Frozen Yoghurt
by TheOlympus
Summary: Kakashi lives alone. Every day he spends the time only with his heretical books. Until one day he met a little boy, with blond and blue-eyed appears in his life. His life became completely different. Not Yaoi! Fatherly!Kakashi
1. Chibi Naruto

Kakashi was drowning into his newest novel of the "Icha Icha" series. Occasionally chuckling under his mask, he'd flip a page and sit back in his chair. A whole week with no missions. How was he to describe the pleasure of that? But he ran out of luck. The week had flown by extremely fast. He was now enjoying his last day of his laid-back week with his novel and his chair. They'd be his best buddies in the next couple of hours. Or so he thought...

He glanced up immediatly when he sensed that something was coming. Trouble was on the way. And trouble had an enormous amount of chakra. From in the kitchen, he could hear a door closing. It was the door to his backyard, only he thought he'd locked it... Quietly, he stood up and pulled a kunai from his pouch. Making no noise on the tricky parquet at all, he swooped over to the tiny wall seperating his kitchen from his livingroom. He held it up infront of him and cocked his head to the side so he could see the person who'd entered his house without permission.

"A-a kid?" he asked himself, removing the kunai from infront of his face. He perched down before the tiny blond with the big sapphire eyes. "Uhh, kid, would you tell me what you're doing in my house?" he asked with an anime sweatdrop.

"Ssshht! You can't let them find me!" he hushed him, running over to one of the cabinets in his kitchen and crawling in.

Kakashi just stared at the assumed 4-year-old with a confused expression on his face. He walked over to the cabinet, hunched down before it, and opened the tiny doors cautionally. The boy sat there, hugging his knees and awaiting any real threats.

"Uhh.. who isn't supposed to find you again?" Kakashi asked.

"That mean Iruka-sensei! He's gonna' lock me up somewhere in a basement for sure!" the boy replied.

Kakashi couldn't help himself and a loud laughter filled the room. "Iruka's gonna' lock you up in his basement?" he asked, still chuckling.

"Ssshhht!" the boy hushed him oncemore and shut the cabinetdoors again.

"Okay, kid, listen, Iruka's not gonna' lock you up somewhere, alright? So just get outta' my cupboard and chop chop outside."

The boy didn't make a sound though. Kakashi tried opening the doors, but they remained firmly shut. He tried them once again, but the wooden things wouldn't budge.

"Come on kid, come on out. It's okay, nobody's gonna' hurt you."

No answer.

"I'll give you candy if you come out."

No answer.

"Not a fan of candy, huh? Well how 'bout cookies?"

Still no answer.

"Uhhh... lollypops?"

The child wouldn't speak.

"Uhmm.. chocolate?"

"Well how 'bout I tell Iruka-san not to lock you away in a basement?"

"... would you do that for me?" came the innocent child's voice.

"Haha, sure."

"You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Pinky-swear it."

"Pinky-swear?" Kakashi repeated, confused.

The squeeky doors opened slightly and a slender arm reached out. The pinkyfinger on the child's hand reached out and motioned toward Kakashi's several times.

"Uhh.." Kakashi went, assuming he had to put up his pinky finger aswell. The child wrapped his pinky around Kakashi's a briefly shook it.

"There." he said. "Now you've pinky-sworn."

"And what's that mean?" Kakashi asked, laughing nervously.

"It means that you have to do it! Once you pinky-swear, there's no turning back!" the boy declared.

"Alright.. so you'll come out, then?"

"Only if you tell Iruka-sensei first!"

"Oh come on, kid, it's not like he'll eat you if you come outta' there, he isn't even here!"

"SSssshht! Don't say that! It only upsets them!" the boy appeared to yell in his whispering voice.

Kakashi chuckled. "They're not ghosts, alright, they're teachers." he said soothingly.

"You don't know that!" came the child's reply.

"Yes I do. Trust me."

"How can I?"

"Well I've just pinky-sworn, haven't I?"

"..." Suddenly the doors of the cabinet opened again squeekily and the boy climbed out slowly. He peeked his head left and right, just to make sure that the coast was clear. Kakashi couldn't help but suppress another chuckle as the boy hid behind the table and turned occasionally toward the door to see if anyone was coming.

CRASH! "Meeow!"

The child yiked and ran toward Kakashi, grabbing hold of his leg and hiding behind it. "It's just a cat, kid, it's okay." he replied with a smile. The cat entered the kitchen via the window and trippled over to Kakashi. The older man went to get a plastic bowl from the cupboard and the little boy followed him, still clutching his hand around the soft fabric of the man's pants. He filled it with milk and set it on the ground where the cat enjoyed it frantically.

The blond boy watched as the cat licked the milk in such a speed you'd think cats needed to exercise their tongues to move that fast, and patted the cat on its head. "He's cute." he noted, scratching the animal behind its ears. "Hmm." came Kakashi's reply. The cat purred and brushed up against Naruto, begging for more attention. The child giggled and patted the stray cat's head happily.

"Naruto!!" came an angry yell. "There you are!! I knew I saw you run into some stranger's house!! You can't do that, you baka!" Iruka scolded the child.

Naruto ran to hide behind Kakashi's leg again and watched as Iruka's gaze lifted from Naruto's to Kakashi's face. Only Kakashi's face was hidden behind a mask. The only thing there was to be seen was his right eye.

"Ah- Kakashi-san!" Iruka choked, shocked.

"Wow, sheesh, Iruka-san, no wonder he thinks you'll lock him up in a basement." Kakashi said, chuckling.

"Wh-what?" Iruka asked.

"The kid's like what, three, four?"

"Three, yes."

"You think it's canny to yell at him like that? I mean, not that I know better, but it sure shit scared me." Kakashi commented with an anime sweatdrop and a nervous laugh.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, Kakashi-san, but this is the way they learn."

Naruto burried his face in Kakashi's leg and Kakashi could feel the child's fingernails press into his skin.

"Come on, Naruto, we've gotta' go."

"Iie! (no!) the boy cried."

Iruka stared at him, surprised. Naruto had never really grown attached to anybody in such a manner that he'd actually burry his head in the man's leg.

"Wow.. Uhh.. Well what if we give you cookies?" Kakashi proposed

"Iie!" he declined though.

"How 'bout a cool ball to play with?"

"Iie!" the stubborn child refused.

"Aw crap I'm all outta' ideas." Kakashi admitted, seeing no other way than to forcibly yank the child off of his leg.

"You don't have to watch over him, Kakashi-san, he's no yours to look over. Besides, he gets enough care and attention at the orphanage." Iruka told him.

"So you work at the orphanage now, huh?" Kakashi asked, attempting to pull the child off of his leg. The stubborn blond wouldn't let go of the man's pants though.

"Only temporarily, just filling in for somebody." Iruka answered, trying to pull Naruto off aswell.

"Huh, that so?" Kakashi faked interest as he tried to peel the child's fingers off of his pants.

"Mm-hmm."

Iruka and Kakashi were having lots of trouble to get Naruto off of Kakashi's leg, but eventually, Kakashi was able to pull him off by using a fearful technique.

... Tickling.

When Kakashi wanted to pass the kid to Iruka though, the kid wouldn't let go of Kakashi's arm.

"Oh crap." he noted.

"We can be here forever." Iruka declared.

Kakashi sighed and sat down. "You know..." Iruka started. Kakashi looked up. "This is the first time I think that Naruto's actually grown so attached to someone in a short period of time." Iruka finished. Kakashi raised a brow. "That so?" he asked, indifferently. "Mm-hmm."

The child traced his fingers over the visible veins in Kakashi's arm. His legs hung from the table and started to gently wabble.

"You know, they're looking for fosterparents for him."

"Well of course they are, I mean, he's in an orphanage."

"No, that's not what I meant..."

Kakashi re-raised his brow.

"They try their best to give children with problems homes to move to first 'cos they believe it has a whole lot to do with the fact that they don't have anyone to watch over them."

"So why don't you?"

Iruka chuckled. "If only." he sighed then. "As you've already heard before, we try to help the children with problems first. These are usually the older kids who steal, use violence or perhaps even do drugs."

Kakashi's eyes lifted slightly, interested.

"Which is why we also almost never have time for the younger ones. The older ones come first at the moment. But the older ones have social contacts outside of the orphanage. Friends, classmates, etc."

"And the younger ones?" Kakashi asked.

"Don't." Iruka replied plainly. "They cannot leave the orphanage yet... this is also why most of the little ones start copying the older ones for attention."

Kakashi sighed. "It must be hard to keep up with it all."

"It is." Iruka replied, chuckling.

"So this punk is one of those troublemakers.." Kakashi said, ruffling through the blond locks with his free hand.

"No. Not really."

"Hmm?"

"Naruto's usually the quiet one. He keeps to himself. Only... that's actually the problem for the quiet ones.. when we have a little free time on our hands to help the little ones, we grant the troublemakers of their agegroup the attention and try to help them. They think the quiet ones don't need any attention or any help 'cos they're so quiet. Only that's the problem. They're quiet because they have problems."

"Wow..what an explanation." Kakashi said, smiling.

"Hehe." came Iruka's nervous laugh.

Kakashi looked at the boy who had now started playing with his fingers. Curling Kakashi's fingers and twirling them gently, the boy's legs swung a little more playfully. He seemed to be entertained. If only by the company of the two older men's voices. He didn't have to understand the conversation, only hear and know that they were there.

The child looked up, noticing that someone was watching him. His big, sapphire eyes stared straight back into Kakashi's as if he could see right through him. As though he could read what he was all about.

"Well, I guess it's time to go, then."

The boy's eyes suddenly filled with fear and he clung to Kakashi's arm even tighter than before. He hadn't understood a word of their conversation earlier, but he understood that sentance all too well.

"Oh crap. Did you have to say it that obviously, Iruka?" Kakashi mocked, laughing.

"Gomen." Iruka replied, flushing a red as he realised that it was, indeed, stupid of him to just anounce something like that.

"Come on, kid, you've gotta' go." Kakashi told him, lifting the child up and trying to hand him to Iruka. Naruto hung to the man's neck though, not prepared to let go. Iruka tried to pull him, but every time he did so, he had to make sure not to pull Kakashi along with him.

"Jeesh, kid, you're strong." Kakashi complimented him, but the blond's eyes didn't look amused at all. Sad and scared, actually.

What was it about Kakashi that made that the kid didn't want to let go?!

"Well, I see no other option than that you just bring him to the orphanage yourself."

"What?!" Kakashi replied.

"Well, clearly it's something about you that attracts the kid to you, so how 'bout you bring him back?"

"Are you kidding me now?!"

"Do you want me to rip him off of your neck?"

The child looked at Kakashi as if he had just asked the question instead of Iruka.

"Fine. I'll bring the kid to the orphanage. But you sure as heck aren't a nice rolemodel for them."

"Haha. Not my problem, Kakashi." Iruka replied, already way ahead of him.

"Tsk. You sure are a handfull." Kakashi mumbled, glaring at the little blond child. He just cocked his head to the side though, staring at him confused. And so, Kakashi set the boy on his shoulders and followed Iruka to the orphanage.

Children were running wild all over the orphanage. Yelling, screaming, crying, fighting, laughing, playing, talking, gossiping, etc etc. Everything humanly possible do to to make any type of noise or sound they did. Some were even singing!

Naruto pinched his eyes closed when they entered the extremely loud facility.

"Alright, thanks for bringing him here, Kakashi-san."

"Not a problem (not like I had a choice)."

Iruka did another attempt to pull Naruto away, but the child now held on to Kakashi's head.

"Great." Iruka moaned, rolling his eyes. "Naruto, let go right now!"

"Iie!" the child replied though, closing his eyes tight as he wrapped his arms around the man's head.

"Can't--breathe." Kakashi managed to say.

Iruka managed to move Naruto's arms from Kakashi's mouth and nose to his eyes and neck.

"Suffo—cating.." he complained this time.

Iruka sighed and now managed to bring Naruto's right arm back up again so it was now covering Kakashi's mouth.

"Can't complain." Iruka said for him this time.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, as if to say, "Ha-ha, Iruka, very funny." sarcastically.

"Iruka-kun, did you manage to find the Kyuubi-kid yet?" they could suddenly hear a female voice call.

"I've found Naruto, yes." Iruka replied, clearly also not very fond of the title "Kyuubi-kid".

"Oh, hello Kakashi-san." the famale brunette to whom the voice belonged greeted him, slightly bowing.

Kakashi just smiled back and tried to hand Naruto to the female person, but apparently, Naruto wasn't fond of females either. You'd think he'd grow easier attached to a female though, seeing as children are ususally more attached to their mothers. But not this kid, no, he needed to pick the toughest person.

"QUIET!!" the room filled with an angry demand and suddenly all the screaming/... children stopped doing what they were doing and stared at the old man who approached the three adults and blond child.

"Hatake Kakashi, I take it?"

"Err.. Hai!" he replied, formally.

"This child seems very attached to you."

"Ehe-he-he." Kakashi laughed nervously. Who was this weird old man?

"Do you want him?"

"WHAT?"

"Would you like to adopt this child, Hatake Kakashi?"

"Excuse me??!"

"Would you like to sign some papers and take this child home with you?"

"Pardon?!"

The older man clearly started to get really irritated and the female person took over for Kakashi. "I'm sure Kakashi-san's just in shock, being asked a question like that so plainly."

"Well, it is a very plain question. Would you like to or not?"

"Uhh.. Isn't this a very extreme question to answer on a whim?" Kakashi asked.

"Not if you really want him."

"But what about the responsibilities and-"

"Listen, Hatake-san, we all know that this child cannot stay in the orphanage. He is to be raised the proper rules and structures of life. This is no ordinary child we're talking about."

Naruto, who was still sitting firmly in his place on Kakashi's shoulders, now released his left hand to stretch out to a butterfly that had entered the room via slightly open window.

All the other kids just stared at the older men as their conversation went on.

"And apparently, you know enough about seals and chakra-control to do so. So my question remains the same. Would you like to adopt this child or not?"

"Uhhh.."

"Bato-sama-" Iruka started, but he got cut off.

"Iruka, this matter does not concern you!!" he snapped at him.

"With all due respect, sir, but it does. I, for one, think we should inform Kakashi-san that if he'd leave Naruto here, he never would be granted the proper education he deserves." Iruka continued though.

(Aw, crap.) Kakashi thought. (Why did Iruka have to use such a guilt-pressure?)

"And, being the child of the Fourth Hokage, I don't think Kakashi-san would like the child's talent to just go to waste."

(Is he SMIRKING?!) Kakashi thought, aggrevated on the inside, but completely calm and uncaring on the outside. (But he IS right though... I really don't want sensei's kid to wind up like a kid who got locked up inside of an orphanage... He was supposed to be the hero of the village. He sealed the Kyuubi away, he saved the village from ruin. If not for sensei's son, the village would've been destroyed.)

"So, would you like to adopt this child, Hatake-san?" the older man asked him oncemore.

Kakashi sighed. (I must be crazy..) he thought, glancing up at the child on his shoulders, who returned his look with his big, innocent, azure eyes.

Later on..

"You know.. I have no idea why I adopted you." Kakashi told the innocent, sleeping boy on his shoulders. The child's hands were still under the man's chin, just making sure that he was still there, as his head leant on Kakashi's. "What is it about me that invited you in though? What on earth could be so cool about me that interested you? Is it my mask? Is that it? You know, if a mask is what you wanted, I could've just given Iruka one..." he grumbled. (Who am I kidding, though? I didn't adopt him 'cos I wanted to rid others of this burden. I adopted him 'cos I felt like it... No, that's cruel. I adopted him 'cos I wanted to. Yeah, that sounds nicer..)

He unlocked the door to his house and carried the child inside. "Well, we're gonna' have to get you a bed, but the couch's fine for now, I guess." he whispered, gently putting him down on the couch and pulling a blanket over him. "At least, until you wake up." he corrected himself.

Carrying him up the stairs would make too much noise. The stairs squeeked, which would probably wake him. And that's the last thing Kakashi wanted right now. "'Night, Naruto." he whispered, ruffling through the boy's blond locks. "We'll see if you're trouble in the morning." he chuckled.


	2. Prankster

**I'm not own Naruto.**

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHhh!!!!!!" came a child's yell, echoing all over Konoha.

"Narutooooo!!" came an older man's demand.

"Eeeek!"

"Come back here, Naruto!!"

The blond haired child turned the corner and hid behind a wall, taking deep breaths. Iruka-sensei ran right passed the wall he was hiding against, assuming that Naruto went in the other direcion.

"Teehee!" he chuckled, smirking evily. Skipping school was so much fun, especially when your sensei decides to play "hide-and-seek" with you during school hours. "I'm so clever." he bragged, smirking as he slid down the wall with his back and bent through his knees. Leaning his head against the wall behind him, he smiled at the sun and took some more deep inhales.

"You skipping school again, Naruto?"

The child jumped and fell backwards again, against a garbage bag which was set behind the store accross from him. The garbage bag tore open and Naruto winded up amidst the trash it contained. "K-Kakashi!" the little boy's voice noted.

The man who was sitting ontop of the house Naruto previously leaned against, flipped the pages of book, appearing completely uninterested in what the child was doing or what he was covered in.

"You know you have to stay in school." he commented.

"Tsk. It's so much funner outside school though!"

"More fun."

"Whatever."

"I don't care if you enjoy yourself more outside of school, it's the law that kids your age have to go."

"Who cares about the law nowadays?"

"I do."

"Pffft. It's just a dumb rule!"

"A dumb rule you've got to follow."

"Yeah right!" Naruto replied though, smirking as he brushed himself off.

"Naruto!!" came Iruka-sensei's voice again. He was searching for the missing child who had ran away from the academy only 10 minutes ago.

"Sheesh. I'm only gone for like, what, 2 minutes? And they start nagging already and brag about how they need to know this and that stuff and blablabla.." Naruto complained.

"And with good reason." Kakashi replied though, flipping another page in his book.

"What d'you mean?"

But Kakashi suddenly disappeared in a flash and reappeared beside Naruto. He lifted the boy up by the collar of his T-shirt and continued to read his book.

"What the?! Put me down!" the blond child demanded.

"Nahh."

"Oh come on, Kakashi!"

"Nope."

"Would you really throw me back in that prison of education?" the 6-year-old asked, turned toward his guardian and putting up the biggest puppy-dog-eyes he could. The fact that his eyes were naturely pretty watery were a great advantage for the boy.

But not a great enough advantage to fool Kakashi, though.

"Nope."

"Awww crap."

"How old are you again?" Kakashi asked, turning the page with his thumb.

"Six!" Naruto replied, aggrevated about the fact that his guardian didn't know how old he was.

"Hmmm... do they teach six-year-olds that stuff at the academy?"

"No."

"Do kids your age say that stuff?"

"No."

Kakashi turned to face the child with a confused expression on his face.

"You did." the child cleared up for him.

Kakashi flushed a light shade of pink and Naruto chuckled.

"I'm glad you're amused." Kakashi replied though, pointing at the Iruka that was storming up to them. Naruto furrowed his brows confusedly, and turned his head to wherever Kakashi was pointing at. When he saw Iruka running up to them, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He started pulling at the collar of his shirt, trying to get it out of Kakashi's grasp, but the child's slender arms weren't muscular enough to do so.

"Hmm?" Kakashi went, pretending like he didn't notice that Naruto would gladly be ANY place but here at the moment. Yanking his fingers off of the collar of his shirt, the boy swung his legs back and forth. "Kakashiiiii~" he whined, pouting as he kicked his legs back and forth violently.

"Naruto!" Iruka started his lecture when he arrived out of breath.

"Hello, Iruka-san." Kakashi greeted him with a smile.

"Hi."

"I'm sorry about the whole school-issue-thing.." Kakashi apologised with a nervous laugh.

"Not a problem. Thank you for catching him. He'll be watched more carefully in the future. Shouldn't have opened the window." he said, more to himself than to Kakashi.

Naruto just hung there, folding his arms and pouting angrily.

"Alright, I'm glad the matter wasn't too serious. If you'd excuse me." Kakashi dismissed himself, placing the boy on the ground and poofing away.

Naruto blew the hair out of his face angrily, still crossing his arms.

"Come on, Naruto." Iruka sighed, grabbing the boy by his shoulder and leading him back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Later on~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A little blond boy swung open the front door violently and threw his backpack on the floor. He closed the door with a smack and ploffed down on the couch.

"That bad, huh?" Kakashi asked, not even bothering to look up from his book as he turned the page.

"I got a whole week's detention and extra homework!" Naruto complained.

"Wow.. that Iruka sure is hard."

Naruto just sat there, looking up at the ceiling as he twiddled with his fingers. His big, sapphire eyes were clouded with confusion and frustration. Why did they have to make it so hard? Stupid grown-ups! He was only human! And a kid at that, too! How did they expect him to sit still at a desk all day? Too boring.

He blew the hair out of his face again and stood up.

"Where you going?" Kakashi asked in the most indifferent tone possible.

"School."

"Hmm?" Kakashi asked, this time looking up from his book. "YOU? Why?"

Naruto had his hand on the knob of the door and clicked it to the right. He turned around with a smirk.

"Pay-back-time!" he grimaced, opening the door and walking outside.

"That kid's pure evil..." Kakashi sighed, turning back to his book.

~*~*~*~*~*~ At School ~*~*~*~*~*~

Naruto pulled out a bucket with red paint and a paintbrush. At the back of the school, he was sure he wouln't get caught. And so, he started doodling...

After he finished his masterpiece (a doodle of Iruka-sensei with a huge sigar, the weirdest eyes he could come up with and a mustache from here to tomorrow, stepping in poop) he smacked his hands together, proud of his work. He grinned as he brushed his nose with his finger and closed his eyes contently.

"Pay-back settled." he sighed, smiling.

"Naruto?" he heard from around the corner.

(Iruka-sensei?! What the heck is he doing here?!) Naruto thought, grabbing his stuff, ready to scram. But it was too late, Iruka had already grabbed the back of his T-shirt and Naruto couldn't escape.

"NARUTO..." Iruka fumed once he saw the huge doodle on the back of the school.

"H-hai?" Naruto squeeked.

"Your detention.."

"Has just be lengthened.."

"For a very long period of time."

"WHAT?"

"Shut up and say "yes sir"!"

"Well I can't shut up and say "yes sir" at the same ti-

"JUST-SAY-IT." Iruka demanded, his whole body trembling in fury.

"S-sure, yes sir.."

"Attaboy.."

"Now clean that up!"

"But I-"

Iruka shot him a deathglare and he was immediatly silent.

"Fine.." he sighed.

Iruka pulled the child along with him as he went inside to get some 'equipment' for the job. He walked back outside with a bucket filled with water and a toothbrush.

"Eeehhh?!!" Naruto complained.

Iruka laughed evily as he pointed at the doodle, saying "Clean!"

Naruto was about to start an argument with Iruka until he realised he'd just be lengthening his detention even more and blew the hair out of his face, saying "Fine." He started cleaning up the huge masterpiece, muttering all kinds of insults under his breath.

Iruka sat down, contently, and watched the child during the whole process.

Later on...

*SLAM*

"Had fun with your payback?" Kakashi asked, suppressing a chuckle as he flipped a page in his filthy book.

"Just shut up." Naruto replied though, putting up the angriest look he could.

Kakashi turned around on the couch so he could face him, and laughed as he saw the failed angry look on Naruto face. No matter how hard Naruto tried, his big, innocent, blue eyes wouldn't allow him to look furious, angry or even just really pissed off.

Naruto blew the hair out of his face, pouting. He'd realised this aswell, and wasn't happy about it at all.

"C'mere." Kakashi said though, and the child walked over to him. Kakashi put a hand on his head, saying, "Don't worry, you'll grow out of it. Take advantage of the eyes now, okay?"

Somehow, this was a great comfort to Naruto. One question answered out of the bunch he had left over, stashed in his head. Neatly ordered and placed in seperate files, then neatly seperated in different drawers. Occasionally, a hurricane would blow open all the drawers and the papers with questions would come flying out. But somehow, Kakashi was always there to sort them back and neatly organise them.

And Naruto was very greatful to him for that.

"What's that stuff on your hands?" Kakashi asked, chuckling.

"Paint."

"Did you paint the backside of the school and doodle a somewhat weird Iruka on it?"

"Nooooo..."

"You're a terrible liar." Kakashi said, laughing and standing up to get a cloth and wipe the stuff off of the child's hands.

"You know, you sure are a handful." Kakashi sighed, starting his work.

"Teehee!" came Naruto's selfcertain grin.

 **So how is it? do you guys like it and want me to continue or just stop here?**


	3. Lost Control

**I'm not own Naruto or Kakashi.**

 **Thank you so much with all my heart for Pat123 and Zeroxydeous**.

Naruto was punching a bag of straw, attached with a thick rope to a tree in the garden. His big blue eyes, which were known to be unable of looking angry, tried their best to look as furious as they could.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" he went on, punching the bag left and right.

"Annoying-son-of-a-bitch!" he insulted to "the bag" in breaks as he hit it.

He didn't mean it to the bag at all though. He had a certain someone else in his mind who he'd love to hit. Just once. He just wanted to whipe that smug, selfcertain grin off of the jerk's face.

"B*tch-@$$-mother-f*ck!ng-@$$hole!" he couldn't hold it in anymore. The bastard had been bugging him and insulting him for as long as he could remember. Not litterly insulting him, just saying things to him that he knew hurt.

"Acting-like-you're-so-much-better-than-me!"

"I'll-show-you--" he turned to spin in the air and kicked the straw bag with all his force.

Drawback... The flaw of the whole case was that it made him go flying through the air, smacking into a tree as he did so. He dropped those 4 meters back down onto the ground--onto his wrist.

"Crap.." he murmered as he inspected his wrist. He wouldn't allow himself to cry in pain. No way, no how. Not a chance in hell that he would ask for help or tell anyone that he was in serious pain and that his wrist needed mending.

"If that Sasuke bastard can live with it, so can I..." he told himself and stood up slowly, covering his wrist with his right hand.

"You know, it's not because someone's strong that their body can heal itself." he heard someone say. And so he glanced up to see Kakashi sitting in the tree above him. He jumped out of it, landing neatly on his feat beside Naruto. Kakashi shoved his book away in his pouch saying, "Let me see that."

But Naruto declined. He was fine, he didn't need any help. He could solve this on his own. He didn't need anyone to solve it for him.

"I'm fine." he grumbled in reply.

"Oh really?" Kakashi asked, raising his eyebrows. His eyes seemed humored.

"Yeah."

"Your wrist doesn't look it." he answered though, and Naruto glanced at his now blue-ish purple wrist.

"It'll heal. It's just a bruise."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I could've sworn I heard a couple cracks.."

"Nothing better than a nice crack in the morning."

"Except after falling onto your wrist from 4 meters in the air, full-forced and full-weightedly."

"It'll heal." Naruto refused though.

"God you're stubborn."

"Proud to be."

"Just let me see it." Kakashi demanded, grabbing his wrist.

"OW!" Naruto winced as he forced his eyes shut.

Kakashi rolled his eyes saying, "See?" but Naruto still wasn't convinced.

"A bug flew in my eye!"

"Yeah right."

"Really!"

"You're such a terrible liar."

"I'm telling the truth!"

"You should really do something about that." Kakashi replied indifferently as he scanned the boy's wrist.

"I don't have to do squat about it 'cos it's the truth."

"If it were the truth, you must have some incredible resistance 'cos from as far as I can see, your wrist is quite ruptured."

"No it isn't."

"Wanna' bet?"

"Sure!" Naruto didn't care if he lost, he wasn't going to show any sign of dependance or even just mere pain. He could stand on his own two.

"Alright, off to the hospital it is, then." Kakashi anounced, pleasure shining in his eyes. Was he sure having fun, knowing that he was going to win the bet easily.

"How much do you wanna' bet on?" Naruto challenged.

"Hmmm... Lessee'... two weeks of doing the dishes."

"Make it three!"

"You're on."

"Great!" Naruto replied with fake joy. In his head he prayed that not a bone in his wrist was ruptured, just banged up a little or whatever. What did he know about wounds and ruptures? He's never really had one like this before. And what was the whole deal with fragments and blood-lodging cells or whatever anyway?

Later on...

"I can't believe I have to do three whole weeks of dishes..." Naruto grumbled angrily, staring at his now-bandaged wrist.

"Told ya' you were a terrible liar."

"Am so not!"

"You are so too."

"Yeah right." Naruto murmered, blowing his hair out of his face for the oh-so-manieth-time.

"By the way... what is it that got you to do such a stupid thing?"

"Do what?"

"Go flying against a tree." Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle. Heck, the sentace WAS funny.

"I was just... angry."

"At who?"

"Some kid."

"Just some kid, huh?"

"Yeah. Just some kid."

"Could it be some Sasuke-kid?"

"How would you know?"

"You said it before."

"Oh..."

"So what about this Sasuke-kid? Does he bug you or something?"

"Not exactly... he just bothers me. He always manages to turn me into the laughing stock of the class"

"I don't really think you set the bar real high."

Naruto just glared at him though, angrily. "It's just the way he acts so cool and all... Compared to him, I..." but he couldn't find the strength to finish the sentance. It hurt him to know that he was weak.

"It's not 'cos someone's better than you that you're weak, Naruto." Kakashi said though, flipping through his book. Was he psychic or something?

Although Kakashi really didn't mind him training a little more once in a while. He liked to see that Naruto put in the effort of training and becoming stronger than the class genius. But somewhere, subconsciously, he knew that Naruto just COULDN'T become stronger than Sasuke just by training in the backyard. If Sasuke, the last remaining Uchiha, could activate the Sharingan, Naruto just couldn't match up to him. . . . . . . Yet.

The blond-haired boy just stared ahead of himself though. He still wasn't convinced. That stupid raven-haired boy was so much better than him, it was just SO unfair! And everyone in the class adored Sasuke! And they hated him! Why were they so different?! First off, their styles were completely different. For instance:

Sasuke wore a black T-shirt with white shorts and Naruto a white T-shirt with black shorts.

Sasuke had dark, ochar eyes and Naruto big blue ones.

Sasuke had raven black hair and Naruto blond hair.

And everyone knew that the angel always loses to the strong, dark man. But Naruto couldn't just depend on clothing or hair. What hurted him was that Sasuke could wind anyone around his finger and yet, he didn't. He turned down all the girls that adored him, including the girl Naruto loved the most. And she couldn't see it. She didn't see how much Naruto loved her. She was too busy with that stupid Sasuke prat.

But don't get him started on the teachers. It hurt his ears every time they said, "Brilliant, Sasuke, that was outstanding!" to the jerk and then "That was the worst performance I've ever seen, Naruto, you should train harder." But that wasn't the worst bit yet. The worst part was the thickheaded bastard grin as he did that annoying sound of his. "Hn!" Sasuke went as he grinned. He did that every time something like that happened. Oh how Naruto hated the jerkwad!

And then, an odd, intense feeling washed over Naruto and prickled his senses. His neck prickled awkwardly and his fingertips started to burn alone with his kneecalves. He wanted to run. No, he needed to run. Somehow, for some reason, he just needed to run it all off. And so he did...

He ran and ran and ran. He sprinted through Konoha. When he reached the forest, he didn't stop, neither did he slow down. He just kept running as fast as he could. He wanted to.. he needed to... he needed to calm down.

"Goddamnit!!!" he cried as he felt the scars on his cheeks grow thicker and his teeth turning into jaws as his nails turned into claws.

He roared at the pink afternoon sky. The hate, sorrow, pain, everything... he just screamed it out. It bursted out of his lungs. A red coat of chakra swarmed around him. His fingers curled down as his palms turned to face the slowly fading sun. His stance widened as though he would blow over from the warm, gentle spring-breese. The noise didn't stop. The roar kept dragging on as though he were howling.

But something suddenly embraced him from behind. Arms drooped down on either side of his neck and held his chest tightly. Naruto couldn't move but still attemped to. Kakashi's grasp was too strong though and he didn't budge.

"Calm down." he demanded with bad result.

Naruto only got even more furious and his bloodred eyes were swarmed with rage as he growled oncemore. Trees almost got torn out of the earth they held onto with their roots and animals fled all over the forest. Naruto's mere chakra chased the nature surrounding him away. The grass beneath their feet suddenly evaporated into thin air and all that remained was rough earth.

But Kakashi's grasp merely tightened around his chest and his arms trembled lightly as his muscles forced themselves to restrain Naruto.

"The fox isn't giving you power, Naruto... it's taking it away from you."

"GGGRAAAH!!" came Naruto's useless cry for release.

He could dream on if he thought Kakashi was just going to let him go so he could destroy some more of the nature or perhaps even kill people. But that wasn't the real reason... the real reason was that Kakashi didn't want Naruto to hurt HIMSELF. But he wouldn't allow himself to believe it. He couldn't really believe that he honestly cared for someone. Someone other than the ones he'd let die.

"Calm down.." his intimidating voice tried oncemore.

Did it have an effect? Surely, Naruto did indeed stop growling, but he still tried to squirm himself out of Kakashi's arms. And then, Kakashi had no other choice... He pulled out a piece of paper with a seal on it out of his pouch and pressed it onto the back of Naruto's head. Slowly, the swarming red chakra started to fade and his claws pulled back into nails and his jaws turned to teeth again. At last, his crimson red eyes returned to the sapphire blue ones Kakashi had always known.

The boy drooped down into a pile of flesh and bones but Kakashi caught him just in time before he touched the earth. He picked the boy up and carried him home again. What had lead him to run away like that all of a sudden? He thought the kid was fine before he just sprinted away into the forest.

~*~*~*~ At home ~*~*~*~

Kakashi just stared at the sleeping boy for a while. What made Naruto suffer so much? Why didn't he know Naruto was suffering like this? Oh yeah, that's right... 'cos he didn't care. He opened his book again and started reading. But the words all turned out as nonsense. He couldn't focus on what it said. He wasn't really reading, he was just looking at the words. His brain didn't focus on what the words meant, it just dissolved them once they entered his mind. All he could think about was the crimson red chakra that swarmed around Naruto earlier. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, only this time it seemed like Naruto did it on his own accord. Like he really wanted some sort of monster fox to take control of his body. He didn't want to be weak anymore. If only he knew that he wasn't. He was the son of the two most incredible ninja Kakashi had ever known. Perhaps it was time that he told him...

"K-kakashi?"

Kakashi's head shot up immediatly to look at the confused blonde.

"What happened?" he asked as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"You mean you don't remember?" Kakashi asked, surprised.

"Remember what?"

"Nothing.. just try and sleep some more."

"Huh? What's going on?"

"Nothing, nothing.. just sleep."

"It's morning."

"Don't you sleep in?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Besides, I wanted to train today."

"Want me to train you?"

"Really?!" Naruto's sapphire blue eyes filled with glee.

"Sure, why not?" Kakashi replied with a smile.

"Awesome!!"

"Haha. Get ready punk, 'cos it's gonna' be tough!"

"Ha! Nothing's too tough for me!"

"We'll see about that."

"Wanna' bet?!"

"Nah... it's okay, I believe you."

"Haha, see, told you I was strong!"

Kakashi suddenly poofed away into a white puff of smoke.

"Stop bragging and show it to me." he called from outside in the garden.

And so, Naruto stood up with his self-certain smile and shoved some clothes on in his wicked hurry. Throwing his bedroomdoor open, he ran down the stairs and toward the thick glass doors.

If only he knew they were closed...

In his hurry, he was completely oblivious to the fact that Kakashi had shut the doors behind himself and went flying into them.

"Damn it!" he cursed, covering his now-glowy-red forehead with his hand. He blushed embarressedly as Kakashi opened the slidy glass doors again and sighed as he pulled Naruto's hand off of his forehead.

"Ow!" Naruto went when Kakashi touched his wrist. "Huh? Why's my hand bandaged?" came his late notice.

"You spilled your tea over your hand last night." Kakashi replied calmly as he went over Naruto's forehead. He pulled an icepack out of the freezer and pressed it against Naruto's forehead.

"You sure are a handfull." he sighed.

"Pish posh, I'll show you a handfull when I beat you!" Naruto beamed.

 **So how is it? do you guys like it and want me to continue or just stop here?**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm not own Naruto or Kakashi.**

 **Thank you for your time to comment on my fanfiction** **The Stig's Roleplaying Cousin.**

Naruto clicked on the flashlight and searched for the box Kakashi was talking about. It was supposed to have some papers in there from previous teams he'd trained and he needed to go over one of them. "A big stack of papers" he described them. 'Nice description' was Naruto's sarcastic thought at the time. When he walked over the wooden attic floor, he couldn't help but fear that it may break. It made cracking, squeeky noises. Almost as if Naruto were torturing it. And so, he decided to remain at his spot and look for the box before moving any more with his flashlight.

It was so hard to find it though, and he started feeling things crawling up his leg.

"It's just your imagination, Naruto." he told himself.

And yet, he could swear that the thing had legs and was pinching his own when it walked up it underneath his pants.

"Calm down, you're imagining things because you're on the attic. Spiders are in the basement, not the attic, now calm down." he murmered.

But when he started to feel it on his back, he couldn't help it anymore and started hitting at his shoulderblades and neck. He pulled his sweater off but he couldn't find anything. He pulled his T-shirt off and didn't find any sign of life on his back either. And yet, he could certainly feel something crawling up his spine.

"Goddamnit!" he cursed, frantically swatting his back with the flashlight. He started twirling around and making a hell a lot of noise on the wooden planks as he scratched at his back and neck and eventually fell down into a carton box. Papers flew out of it when he fell into the box, his arms and legs still popping out. At last, the creature had stopped crawling up his back.

A person walked up the foldable stairs and Naruto tried his best to get out of the box. Oh god. He was stuck. "Goddamnit." he moaned, trying to get himself out of the ancient box. Was it coated with glue or something?!

"What's all the noise about?" he heard Kakashi's voice ask when he was at the top of the stairs. /Yes!/ Naruto thought. /My flashlight's turned off!/

But just at that moment, light shone on his body and blinded his eyes. He could hear Kakashi chuckle at the sight of him, and heard his footsteps on the cracky wooden floor aproach him.

"You're stuck." he noted, still chuckling.

"No, I'm not!" Naruto replied, flushing a bright-red.

"You're stuck." he repeated.

"I'm not stuck!"

"You're stuck."

"Yeah, I'm stuck.." Naruto sighed as he glanced to the right.

Instead of helping Naruto out by pulling him up by his arm, Kakashi had a different plan in mind. He lifted him out of the box by his leg. His right hand was wrapped around Naruto's left ankle and his left hand in his side.

"Hey, what the-!" came Naruto's angry notice.

"Why're the papers all over the place?" Kakashi questioned, glancing at the once-neatly-stacked-papers.

"Uhh.." came Naruto's hesitant reply.

"Yes?"

"Something was crawling up my back."

"And so you decide to chase it off with paper?" Kakashi asked, a smirk hidden underneath his mask.

"Well, no, I just tried to chase it away and I sort of... fell in."

Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle again as he tried to imagine what happened.

Naruto just huffed and crossed his arms though. "Would you let me go, now?" he grumbled.

"Sure." Kakashi replied and let loose of his ankle. Naruto got dropped to the ground and fell on his head as Kakashi picked the scattered papers up off the floor.

Naruto started to rub his head frantically and started grumbling all kinds of angry words under his breath.

"Instead of doing overdramatic, how 'bout you make yourself usefull and carry these papers downstairs?" Kakashi demanded, placing the huge pile of papers in Naruto's stretched-out and awaiting arms.

"Fine." he sighed and started down the foldable stairs that lead to the attic.

"Just be careful, 'kay. If you move around too much, the stairs will move aswell."

"Why would I move arou- Woahh!!"

A tumble, some scratches, another tumble, a crack and a smack and then silence. After one brief second of silence came cussing—lots of cussing. Evil grumbles and insults and a few moans before cussing and grumbling again.

Kakashi leaped to the stairs again, to find a sore Naruto rubbing his head again at the foot of them. He slid down them – he placed his hands on either sides of the stairs and slid down without using his feet – hastily and tried to see what was wrong with the child.

"Goddamn you, rotten stairs. I really hope someone oils you and puts you on fire you b*tch-a$$ jerk-f*cking a$$tard. I hope you rot in hell motherf*cker." Naruto kept grumbling other insults under his breath as he rubbed the same spot over and over again with his eyes pinched to slots.

Kakashi tried to look over his hands to see what was wrong with his head, but all he could see was the red blood in the child's angelic blond hair.

Without a word, he just pulled the kid's hand off of his head and scanned it. When he touched it, Naruto winced, but he couldn't find the source of where the blood may be coming from. He pushed the child's hair aside but still found nothing.

"Argh. Just what I needed. Papercuts. Why does that happen, anyway?! F*cking retarded pieces of paper." Naruto grumbled, still fuming. He started to suck his bloody, cut finger but Kakashi pulled the child's hand out of his mouth and scanned it.

"His head isn't bleeding, it's his fingers.." he mumbled under his breath to himself, as though he needed clearification.

"Stay put." he then said as he stood up and went downstairs to the kitchen to get something. Seconds later, he was back upstairs and had a box clenched under his left arm. With his right, he gently placed his hand on Naruto's back and pushed him forwards, toward the bathroom. The whole time, he didn't say a word. He silently turned the handle on the sink and waited 'til the water was cold enough. Occasionally, he'd run the water over his own fingers to see if it could numb his skin yet and waited again. When he decided it was indeed icecold, he gently took Naruto by the wrist and let the icy water run over the cuts on his fingers. The child winced and tried to pull his hand back, but Kakashi was just too strong for him and kept it there.

The sting was horrible. He'd rather not have the water run over his fingers and just let the blood ooze out of the cut instead. He'd way rather have his body heal itself. Or have the kyuubi heal it.

It may have just been a little cut compared to all the cuts and scars he's had in his life, but somehow it hurt the most. And to think he had 3 more of them...

When Kakashi decided that the cut was numbed cold enough by the water, he moved on to the next finger. The process kept repeating itself until all 4 of the cuts on Naruto's fingers were now numbed and ready for further mending. He opened the box he'd carried under his arm earlier, and pulled out some cotton balls along with disinfectant liquid Naruto didn't quite know the name of. All he knew was that he hated it. He hated everything about it. He remembered that whenever he scraped his knee or elbow at school, they'd use that stuff and it'd burn like hell. He hated the smell, the texture, the feel, even the way it stung in his eyes whenever someone would just open it around him.

He was 13, he wasn't a kid anymore, he was a man now. Only an extremely short man and a childish one, but still, it shouldn't hurt like that. He's had bloodgushing, bonecracking, headbursting wounds before! Why should he be afraid of some disinfectant bottle? But still... he didn't want Kakashi to touch him with that stuff. Not now, not ever. He didn't want it, and what he didn't want, didn't happen.

Kakashi motioned for him to come closer when he was finished with setting up all his equipment. Beside the disinfectant bottle stood a disinfectant spray. About the same thing actually, only one's a spray and the other you just gush over your wound. Next to the spray Naruto could see a little pot of salf (healing cream for those who aren't familiar with the frase). And last but not least, band-aids. Slowly, Naruto stood up off the edge of the bathtub he sat on. Kakashi reached out for Naruto's arm, but for some reason, the child pulled back. The older man's eyes spread open wide at the reaction, but just made another step in his direction with his arm still stretched out.

Action-reaction.

Naruto backed off again, his eyes fixed on the bottle containing burning torture-liquid. Kakashi noticed this aswell and sighed as he shut his eyes. "It doesn't hurt." he said, but Naruto didn't seem convinced. Not in the slightest. Now he was even more against the idea of the brown stuff running over his fingers. If it didn't hurt, Kakashi should've said something like, "What's wrong?" but by saying, "It doesn't hurt", he just declared that he knew that the thing Naruto feared at the moment was the burn of the annoying liquid. And he could only know it by experiencing it.

"Come on, it really doesn't."

But stubborn child was still deadset against the bottle.

"Your fingers will swell if I don't."

Nope, nope, still not convinced.

"To the size of peaches." Kakashi continued.

"Yeah right." Naruto mumbled back, still walking backwards slowly.

"Really."

"You expect me to believe that? Peaches, of all things.."

"Oh come on, Naruto, are you telling me now that you're afraid of a little bit of water?"

"That stuff isn't water."

Kakashi noticed that Naruto's reaction was a very weird one for him. Usually, Naruto'd go all out and yell something back like, "No I'm not! I just don't like that stuff!" but now he kept his head cool and just calmly replied against the point.

"It's water with medicine."

"No it isn't."

"I assure you it is."

"Did you make it, then?" it was a rhetorical question ofcourse, since Naruto knew he didn't.

He just kept backing up every time Kakashi made another step toward him.

"No, but I know what's in it." he replied calmly.

"Then you must understand my grudge against it."

"Not at all."

The back of Naruto's leg brushed against the edge of the bathtub and he realised that it was give in or charge. And giving in wasn't really one of his 'things'.

Kakashi noticed though that Naruto had nowhere to go at this point and walked over to him casually. His arms reached out for Naruto's, and Naruto took this opportunity to make his grand escape. He leaped toward the bathroom door and ducked under Kakashi's arms on his way there. Once he was passed him, he ran downstairs in his whicked hurry and left bloodmarks on the railing. He ran into the kitchen and hid underneath the table. God was he lucky that he bought that special tablecloth for Kakashi's fathersday. Nothing else came to his mind at that moment and Kakashi had been complaining about the stains Naruto'd been leaving on his table. And so, he saved up on money and bought him one of the finest tablecloths he could find. There was still an inch of space between the floor and the cloth and so Naruto backed up a little in the hope that Kakashi couldn't see him through the tiny amount of space which provided him the vision to see where the older man was. Kakashi had just reached the foot of the stairs and for some reason already knew that Naruto was in the kitchen. Had he made that much noise? Kakashi's footsteps came closer and closer and Naruto backed up a little more. A hand was placed on the bottom of the tablecloth and Naruto could feel his heart pounding in his throat. New plan: once Kakashi pulls the tablecloth up, run for it! And this was exactly what happened. The hand jerked the thin crèmecolored fabric off the table and Naruto made a run for it. He bumped his elbow and several other parts of his body against the chairs he knocked over in the process, but oh well. He ran around the table and felt Kakashi's hand graze him. Thank god for the tiny distance that mattered vitaly at the moment. Naruto ran around the coffeetable this time, sure that he could make it through the door if Kakashi decided to still come after him. Once Kakashi tried to catch him on either side of the table, Naruto'd run the other way and reach the door just before Kakashi could get him.

"Oh come on, don't be such a drama queen." Kakashi told him, his fingers clutched tightly around the brown bottle.

"Tell that to someone who actually gives a damn." Naruto replied, blowing his hair out of his face.

Kakashi sighed and jumped over the table – this most certainly wasn't part of Naruto's plan. Naruto tried to jump over the table aswell so he could reach the other end -the one Kakashi was just on- but he was a little too late and Kakashi pulled him back.

"Ack!" Naruto went as he squirmed out of his hold. The two were now on the couch, Naruto trying his best to keep his hands away from the man. Kakashi's icecold hands fought back and sent chills up Naruto's bare spine. (me: Yesh yesh, I remember that Naruto's bare-chested. Muhahaha XD) Kakashi's hand started tugging at the blonde's shoulder, his knee fighting to keep Naruto's back still. Whilst his left hand held the child's shoulder, his left leg locked his legs, his right knee forced his back still and at last, his right hand had the opportunity to grab Naruto's wrist.

The child groaned in defeat and Kakashi made some sort of proud laughter sound.

Moments later, Naruto was being pulled toward the kitchen sink and placed ontop of the counter. God he hated it when someone picked him up. It made him feel so incapable of doing things. So small. Sure he couldn't reach it by himself yet 'cos his hight was a little off, but still he should've just gotten a chair to stand on or whatever. He didn't want Kakashi to pick him up and make him feel so little.

But the point was forgotten once he realised his hand was being pulled over the sink and the brown liquid was being poured over the wounds on his fingers. Kakashi had his arm locked in an almost-chokehold as though his arm could actually breathe, and Naruto made an "it-" sound with shut eyes and grit teeth but realised moments after that it didn't hurt at all. His tense arm relaxed along with the rest of his body and so did Kakashi's grasp on the boy's arm.

"W-why isn't it hurting?" he asked, confused.

"I told you it didn't." Kakashi replied, a crooked grin crossing his hidding lips. What Naruto could see though, were Kakashi's happy 'I-told-you-so' eyes.

"What the?"

When Kakashi was done, he pulled the salf and the band-aids out of his pocket. He spread the salf over Naruto's cuts and then wrapped the band-aids around them. As he worked on the last one, he raised his eyes to the ceiling and exhaled a gust of wind.

"You sure are a handfull." he sighed, attaching the end of the band-aid to the start.

Naruto smiled his shy grin and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "It-!" he went, pressing his eyes shut again.

Kakashi sighed oncemore. "Let me take a look at that."

 **It was much faster than expected, isnt it?**

 **2 fanfiction in** **1 day could be exhausted af. lol**

 **So how is it? do you guys like it and want me to continue or just stop here?**


	5. Sick day

**I'm not own Naruto (Maybe except Hinata lol Jk) Sorry for delay and I hope you understand that and be patient.**

 **The Stig's Roleplaying Cousin: No, I'm not try to achieve anything. It just my rate's T not M which means this story allowed to be read by teens or even kids. And you know that mean right? I should give my warning about swearing or bad language in the first place but I didnt. Thank you and** **Sorry to make you uncomfortable.**

 **hsm1999: Thank you :)**

Rain poured down from the blackened depths of the cloudy skies swirling around Konoha. Puddles were spread across the whole village and a thick wind blew away all the leaves in its path. People who dared to go outside would definitely get blown away and be ill the following day.

Which is why a blond teenager with bright blue eyes tried to get home from his long and hard mission as soon as he could. The 14-year-old had whiskermarks on his cheeks and his T-shirt appeared to be torn. The black fabric was completely shredded and he didn't wear a jacket or sweater. He did wear black fingerless leather gloves which covered only his thumbs, but aside from that and the headband worn loosely around his neck, there was nothing else that would usually prevent from growing cold.

His faded grey knee-shorts were ripped and stained aswell. As previously stated, it had been a rough mission. And so, the boy wrestled his way through the demonic downpour toward his destination. He couldn't wait 'till he entered the warm facility. All he wanted to do at the very moment was fall asleep. But he knew he had to wait 'till he got home to do that.

~*~ When he finally got there ~*~

Before the boy even shut the door completely, he was demanded of a reply from a rather stern and impatient male voice.

"Where the heck were you?!" Kakashi asked.

"I was on a mission."

"Why'd it take so long?"

"'Cos the guy was a tricky enemy."

"What happened to you?" now there was a slight hint of worry in the silver-haired man's voice.

"I told you; the guy was tricky." Naruto's voice had already grown hoarse as he collapsed onto the couch, trying desperately to stay awake. His eyelids were heavy though and his limbs were sore. Everything had been inflicting more damage upon him ever since Kakashi resealed the seal that locked away the Kyuubi inside of Naruto.

"I'll go run a bath. You stay awake."

"Mmm..." was Naruto's only reply.

Kakashi hurried upstairs and ran the hot water as soon as he could. He then remembered something his dad had told him before though and turned on the cold water aswell.

Naruto could feigntly head Kakashi's hurried footsteps bonking down the stairs and didn't quite grasp what was going on when he suddenly got lifted into the air by his muscular arms.

Kakashi scooped the fading boy up off the couch and ran back up the stairs with the rather limp teen in his arms.

The blond boy was about to fall asleep as he felt short tugs at his clothes. The wet fabric stuck to his body like a sticker but Kakashi managed to peel them off anyway, leaving the boy in only his underwear as he lifted him into the tub.

The boy reacted like a cat the moment his soaring hot skin met the cold water. His eyes popped open and his hands and feet reached for the edges of the tub. It pained Kakashi to have to get the teen back into the water, but he knew it was for Naruto's own good.

"Sshh, calm down, it's only water." he told him soothingly.

"C-c-cold." the blonde managed to say with clattering teeth. His eyelids were weighing down heavily on his eyes and he had bags underneath them as well.

"I know. But it only feels that way to you 'cos you're getting ill. To me, the water's lukewarm. Which is technically still a little too warm."

Naruto couldn't believe him when he said the water was lukewarm and too hot, but most of all he couldn't believe the fact that he was growing ill. He never got sick. Kyuubi always solved that.

"B-but the kyuubi-" he tried, but Kakashi replied before he could finish his sentence.

"Has been sealed away once more. Besides, anyone, even you, would get ill immediately after standing outside in that weather."

"Hmmm..." Naruto closed his eyes and sank away in the tub.

Before Naruto's head was completely underwater, Kakashi lifted the boy up again and straightened him out. Then he closed the hot water so now only cold water would be added.

Since the bath was pretty big (bigger than your everyday bathtub), it was easy for Naruto to slide away from the edge. His feet didn't reach the other end yet so he had no support whatsoever.

The silverhaired jounin stood up to get something. From the looks of it, an empty cup.

Naruto merely watched as the older man filled the cup with cold water. He only really reacted when he noticed it trickling down his hair. The cold water managed to get to his back and chest before the boy swatter the cup away.

"What the heck are you doing?!" he demanded of the older man.

"Oh, good. Your reactions are back to normal," the silverhaired man chuckled.

"Why the hell did you do that?!"

"'Cos your body needs to cool off."

"Just leave those things to the Kyuubi, okay? He might as well pay the rent in some way," Naruto snarled, standing up. He was glad to notice he was still wearing boxershorts as he stepped out of the tub.

"The Kyuubi won't heal minor injuries the way it used to," Kakashi replied as he held his hand out in front of the boy, stopping him.

"If this illness is as serious as you say it is, I'm sure the Kyuubi will-- ACHOO!" Naruto got interrupted by his own sneeze.

Kakashi sighed. "Get in the tub."

"No way! It's too cold in there."

"Get in, Naruto."

"Iie! (No)"

"Now."

"No way!"

"Now or I'll get you in myself."

"Hmph." Naruto crossed his arms, shut his eyes, and faced the other way.

"Fine," Kakashi sighed.

Naruto, who thought he had won, turned around, only to find himself wrestling with Kakashi. The man clamped his arms around him, and tried to get the boy into the water, but the teen's cat-instincts lead him to pull on whatever it was that could get him out. In this case Kakashi.

There was a lot of slippery noise in that brief minute, and a load of squirming and groaning.

In the end, Naruto winded up in the bathtub... on top of Kakashi. Thank God it was with his back faced to the man.

Still, neither one was really comfortable with their positions. And so, Naruto tried to get up, only to be pulled back by Kakashi.

"No way I'm letting you out after you soaked my clothes," Kakashi told him, pulling the boy back into the water.

"Hey, it's not my fault your clothes got wet, you were the one who wanted me to get in."

"And who was being a cranky brat and didn't listen to his adoptive father?"

"Well who didn't believe his adopted son about the fact that he didn't need any help and wasn't sick at all?" (They use the word "adopt" a lot when they argue.)

"Oh face it, Naruto, even you can get sick in that weather." Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but-"

Kakashi sighed and took the advantage of the fact that his legs could reach the other end of the bathtub...

Before Naruto could even put his comeback into words, he got shocked backwards and pulled onto the silver haired man's lap.

Kakashi was relieved that his back was finally straight and that the kid now really couldn't go anywhere. At least he'd get his money's worth out of his black jounin outfit. He knew that the soaked clothes wouldn't be dry by morning and that he'd have to figure out how the dryer worked instead of just hanging up his clothes as usual.

Naruto wasn't pleased at all though about his situation. And he was even less pleased when he saw Kakashi refill the cup as the man's arm was around his waist, making sure he couldn't get away.

The boy squirmed around as much as he could as the older man gently poured the cup of cold water onto the golden-blond locks. And just to make sure that the cold water reached the kid's neck, he softly pushed Naruto's head forward and down a little before pouring the icecold water onto the boy's neck, to the annoyed groan of the blonde who realized it was no point to squirm anyway since Kakashi's left arm held him firmly at his place.

"Christ, would you stop it?!" he complained.

"Hmmm..." was Kakashi's reply as he put his right hand -which was still gloved- on the boy's forehead to check if he'd cooled down a little. Not like he needed to, though. He already knew the water had gotten cold enough and that he extra cups of cold water did their job.

And so he lifted the boy up and got out of the tub.

"Achoo!" the blonde sneezed once more.

"Bed," Kakashi said, more to himself than to Naruto as he pulled out the chord so the bathwater could drain.

Naruto was rather confused when Kakashi not only carried him, but also carried him to the wrong direction.

The boy got placed on the double-bed he'd been pretty familiar with when he was young. It was Kakashi's bed. Only Kakashi was changing it a little. The man pulled off the blankets, to Naruto's everlasting surprise.

"I'm going downstairs," Kakashi said, "you get out of those wet shorts."

As Kakashi went down to the kitchen to get something, Naruto did as he said and changed into his PJ's in his own room.

By the time he was dressed and back on Kakashi's bed, the silverhaired man was back upstairs as well -- with a thermometer in his hand.

"Top off," he ordered.

"Huh? Why?"

"'Cos it's too warm. And also 'cos you've got a wound on your shoulder."

"So?"

"So I've got salf and band-aids."

"Oh."

And so, Kakashi unbottoned the boy's shirt and tossed it on the chair in the corner of the room.

"Here," he said as he shoved the thermometer in the boy's mouth. "Hold it under your tongue. No biting."

Naruto blushed lightly. He remembered when he was little he used to know all the tricks there were to know to a thermometer. If you wanted your temp to go up (like on a test-day), you rub your tongue against the tip or try and heat it with a lamp. If you wanted it to go down (like on a fieldtripday), you bite it and hope for the best. There are 3 possibilities.

\- Or it goes way up

\- Or it goes way down

\- Or it breaks and you convince your parents there's nothing wrong and you feel fine.

As Kakashi treated his wound, he quietly tried gnawing on the hard thermometer.

"Hey, no chewing or I'll stick in where the sun don't shine," Kakashi said as he covered the gash with a band-aid.

Naruto immediately stopped gnawing on the thing and waited impatiently for the beep.

Meanwhile, Kakashi pulled off his soaked sweater, but sadly he didn't pull off his mask which was attached to his black skintight tank. (Something everyone wanted XD)

When they both heard a loud, shrill beep, the man rushed to the thermometer to see how the adopted kid was doing.

It'd always been trouble for Kakashi to know when Naruto was in pain or ill, because the kid would never admit it. When he was little, he'd often get glares and beatings from other people, but he'd never admit to the fact that it hurt. Mentally and fysically he was in pain . Which only made it harder for Kakashi to read Naruto now.

"Thirty-nine C..." Kakashi muttered.

"Point eight..." he added.

"Go change into shorts."

"But Kakashi, I'm already freezing as it is."

"I know. Just do it."

"But..."

"Naruto, do you want me to do it?"

"I'll go now!" And the kid scooted off.

When Naruto came back, Kakashi was holding a little bottle and a spoon. A big spoon... (oh noes, fear the spoon! XD)

Kakashi didn't have to explain to the blonde what to do since Naruto already knew, but he still asked.

"Uhm... what's with the bottle?"

"It's medicine."

"... The good one or the bad one?"

Kakashi sighed as he unescrewed the top. "I'm not gonna' lie to ya', kid."

Naruto backed up on the bed as he saw Kakashi pour the thick (and I mean really thick) brown liquid onto the spoon. It was the kind that was hard to swallow since it was so blubbery and sticky, and would leave a bad aftertaste in your mouth that you know will stay no matter what you try.

"Y-you're not serious, are you?" Naruto asked with a hoarse voice.

"Sadly, I am," Kakashi replied, bringing the spoon over to Naruto.

"Can't I take the other one?"

"Nope. Sorry."

"But I'm not even really ill!"

"Open wide," the older man sighed.

"Ii-" but before Naruto could say the 'a', the big spoon got shoved into his mouth and got pulled out empty again.

If it weren't for Kakashi's hand covering Naruto's mouth, he would've spit it out long ago. But as it was, he couldn't get the thick brown stuff out. Not like he allowed it in.

Which is why he refused to swallow it.

"Oh come on, Naruto, don't be a little kid," Kakashi said, his right hand covering the boy's mouth as his left pressed against certain parts of the blonde's throat.

"Mmgmrh!" was Naruto's reply.

"You won't get better if you don't."

Naruto wanted to yell how he wasn't ill, but couldn't with the thick brown stuff in his mouth. Also, even if he didn't have it and didn't refuse to swallow it, the parts the older man was pressing in his neck were known to be the "mechanisms" you swallow with. He couldn't talk like that.

"I'll force it down your throat if you don't swallow it yourself," Kakashi threatened, but he wasn't convincing enough for Naruto.

The boy merely rolled his eyes in amusement.

"Alright, have it your way," Kakashi said as he now covered the blonde's nose aswell. This meant that Naruto had no way to breathe anymore and had to swallow if he wanted Kakashi to let go so he could get some air.

Naruto tried to push away Kakashi's arms with all his might but he was just so tired and weak at the moment.

"No use fighting, Naruto. I'd really suggest swallowing." Kakashi appeared to be proud of his genius plan.

And then Naruto knew he really had to swallow the foul, bitter, thick, blubbery, brown liquid or he'd be in serious trouble.

Ah, fuck it!!

Kakashi removed his hand so the boy could cough and stick out his tongue in disgust.

The older man sighed as Naruto stalked toward the window and started spitting through it. Thankfully, there was nobody outside now in this weather. Which is also why kakashi yanked the boy back and shut the window immediatly.

"Ugh, blech, yuck, kech, gruck, yech, fheh, blurgh, haroogah!" Naruto made all kinds of disgusted noises as he stuck out his tongue which felt thick from the medicine.

"Oh come on, it wasn't so bad, was it?"

Naruto nodded his head 'yes' angrily.

"Well, whatever the case, you finally took it."

"Hmph."

"Ha-a-hah-ha..." Kakashi laughed nervously.

"Anyway, you should get some sleep."

"Mmhm.." Naruto agreed, about to go to his room until he got a tap against his forehead and fell back down onto Kakashi's bed.

"Where d'you think you're goin'?"

"Uh.. my room...?"

"Hey, I didn't take the blankets off for myself, you know." Kakashi said, looking at Naruto as though the boy had gotten a brick to the head... several times.

"Then.. where will you sleep?"

"Don't worry about me, you worry about yourself, okay?"

"Hmm.." the blonde still wasn't convinced.

"Just sleep."

Naruto got pushed back onto the bed.

"But, Kakashi, why did you take the blankets off?" 'curious george' asked.

"'Cos it's too warm else."

"Too warm?" Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "But it's freezing!"

"To you, yes. Which is why you're ill and we have to get your temp back to normal."

"Can't I have one blanket? Or at least my shirt back?"

"Sorry, kid."

"You can't be serious..." the teen muttered, hugging himself as he turned onto his side and curled up into a ball.

Kakashi switched off the light as he went to the bathroom to get something.

Even with Naruto being tired as hell, the cold kept him awake no matter how hard he tried to fall asleep.

His guardian walked back inside with a wet washcloth and placed it on Naruto's forehead. As he expected it to be, it was icecold. And since Kakashi had to make sure the washcloth didn't slide off of the boy's forehead, he stayed on the bed, sitting next to the teen.

Naruto saw no other way than to huddle to his own source of warmth. He was happy to notice that Kakashi had changed into a dry pair of pants as well.

Surely, it was warmer where Kakashi was, but Naruto was still frozen solid no matter how much he hugged Kakashi's arm.

Kakashi wasn't surprised that the boy huddled over to him. He knew how hard it was for the kid and how cold he felt. And being the parent he was, he couldn't stand to see Naruto like that.

Which is why he pulled the boy closer and tried to hug him without warming his body too much.

In the end though, Naruto wound up settling himself on Kakashi's chest with his feet reaching over the edge of the bed. He was laying in the wrong direction, but it didn't matter.

Kakashi twirled the blond locks of the child sleeping on his chest around his finger, trying to entertain himself. He'd stay awake all night so he could make sure Naruto was okay.

He feared the day he'd tried to forget about finally arrived. The day all the illnesses the Kyuubi had managed to stop finally broke out.

"Your scent," Naruto suddenly muttered.

Kakashi's eyes were suddenly shocked as he tried to figure out what Naruto meant; The most obvious thing shot to his head though. But before he could reply, Naruto muttered something else.

"The day.. you asked me.. what made you so.. different from the.. others.. and that attracted .. me.. to you... so much."

"..." Kakashi was silent as he remembered the day he'd adopted the blond boy.

"Your scent... it reminded me of... someone."

Kakashi knew Naruto was talking about his father without noticing or knowing it himself.

The boy finally fell asleep and Kakashi let a smile grace his lips behind his mask. He stroked the boy's cheek.

"You sure are a handful," he whispered with a smile.

 **So how is it?** **Give me your comments, criticisms or suggestions** **. And I'd love to reply in the next chapter. Thank you.**

 **Ja ne!**


	6. Naruto (Part 1)

**I'm not own Naruto (Maybe except Hinata Lol please don't kill me.)**

 **hsm1999: No of course not. Don't worry.**

 **Aprilia Echizen: Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! I'm glad you like it!**

 **Pat123: Thank you thank you! I'm glad you like it!**

Naruto, Sakura and Sai waited on the bridge as been ordered. Ofcourse, all three knew by now that Kakashi-sensei'd be late anyway. But all three still had a tiny sparkle of hope that perhaps once the man would be on time.

"Ugh, where is that guy?" Sakura complained.

"Who knows.." Sai sighed.

"Mmhm." Naruto agreed eventhough he knew exactly where Kakashi was.

"If he doesn't magically appear right now I'm gonna-" Sakura wanted to say but got cut off.

"Hello, guys."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed.

"Sorry I'm late, an old lady needed my help... with several things... really!... it's true!"

But none of them appeared to be convinced.

"Anyway..." Kakashi skillfully changed the subject. "We're gonna' be going on a C-rank mission, so I hope you're all ready."

"What?!" Naruto nearly yelled. "But we can defintely handle B-rank, sensei!"

"Well, I would've enjoyed a B aswell, but there aren't enough Chuunin on the team."

"What do you mean, sensei?" Sakura asked, "there's you who's a Jounin, Sai's ANBU material, I'm a Chuunin and – OH."

Naruto's eyes went white as guilt washed over him.

"But Kakashi-sensei, you know I'm Chuunin rank material! Besides, I would've passed if it weren't for Orochimaru's plan to take over Konoha!"

"Hey, it isn't me who said it. If you've got a problem, go fight it out with the Hokage."

"Alright, I will!"

Naruto was about to march up to the Hokage and fight it out with her, until Kakashi held him back by the collar of his sweatshirt. Holding his book in his free hand, the jounin sighed.

"I wasn't serious, Naruto."

"Why not?!"

"'Cos she's the Hokage."

"Yeah, and besides, you must be more of an idiot that I already thought you were if you wanna' argue with Tsunade-sama." Sakura added.

"It's no fair! I was away, training with Ero-sennin! Doesn't that count for something?!" Naruto asked desperately.

"Don't be an idiot, Naruto." Sakura laughed.

Naruto balled his hands into fists. Sometimes that Sakura could really drive him to the edge. Just the way she thought she was better than him... Sure, he laughed it off every time, but whenever Sakura called him an idiot, fool, moron, or a weakling, it really hurt. The only reason he pretended to like her in the first place was so that he'd have the girl who liked Sasuke first, but then liked him better 'cos he was better. He just wanted Sasuke to acknowledge him, not Sakura. Which is also why he told her to butt out that day he faught Sasuke on the roof of the hospital. Sasuke finally acknowledged him, there was no reason to pretend like he loved Sakura anymore.

Kakashi noticed how Naruto balled his hands into fists and put a hand on the boy's head.

"Anyway, we should get going." the man anounced and the team followed.

~*~*~ On their way there ~*~*~

"So anyway, sensei... what's the mission?"

"Good question, Sakura. We shall be guarding a campsite and acting as temporary instructors there."

"What's the camp for?"

"Well, to put it bluntly, it's a camp to teach beginners simple shinobi basics to stay protected from other enemy shinobi."

"How long shall we be staying there?"

"What's wrong, Sai? Got other business to attend to?"

"No sir."

"Hehe, just kidding, Sai. You should loosen up a little."

"My apologies, sir."

"Hmm... Anyway, it depends how long we stay. It could stray from 3 days to 5. We won't be staying for longer than a week, though."

"Don't they have their own guards?" Naruto muttered tonelessly.

"Ah, I wondered how long you were gonna' remain quiet, Naruto." Kakashi teased his student.

"And no, not qualified shinobi ones at least."

"Well that sucks." the blond boy determined.

"True." Sakura agreed. "What's the reward, sensei?" she asked, trying to find a reason to fulfill the mission in a happy mood.

"Enough." Kakashi sighed. He didn't like the way his students were motivated by money.

"Enough as in; "I can pay the bills", or as in; "I can buy myself a new kimono"?"

"Errr..." their sensei chewed his lip.

"What does it matter?" Naruto mumbled angrily.

All three teammates stared at Naruto. They all wore a confused and shocked expression on their faces. None of them were used to such bitter behavior from the blonde.

But Naruto didn't appear to notice the tree pairs of eyes on him as he walked ahead of their frozen bodies with his arms crossed lazily behind his head.

Soon after they followed the angsty child. All three were silently wondering what had upset Naruto so much. Especially Sakura, who was lost in guilt.

~*~*~ 1 day of traveling later ~*~*~

"Is that even a campsite?" Sakura asked.

"It is indeed kind of modern and facility-ish." Sai agreed.

"More of an actual camp you go to in the vacation than a campsite in a forest. I don't even see any tents or campfires." Sakura added.

"Well, at least we get to sleep inside." she realised happily.

"You must be the Konoha ninja that came to help us out." a middle-aged man with little facial hair greeted the team in a shaky voice. He walked over the them casually.

"Hai." Kakashi-sensei replied, bowing slightly.

Sakura and Sai bowed aswell, but Naruto just scanned around the campsite. There weren't many people to see besides two kids fighting eachother with wooden swords.

"I'm captain Shiziko." the man introduced himself. "But you can call me Ziko."

"I'm the leader, Hatake Kakashi. This is Sai. Sakura. And Naruto."

"Pleasure." Sai tried to smile.

"Hiya." Sakura went along.

"..." Naruto was still staring around, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that he'd just been introduced and that all eyes were on him ... again.

"Huh?" he went eventually, understanding that everyone was waiting for him to say something.

"Don't mind him." Kakashi covered for him, smiling polite n's.

"Yeah, Naruto's just a little slow in the head." Sakura unintentionally added.

Naruto laughed dryly and without any sign of happiness. "I'm sorry, what was the question?"

"Nevermind." Kakashi sighed. "So, Shiziko-san, where do you want us to start?"

"Well, class starts in about half an hour so I suggest you guys go to your rooms and unpack. Unfortunately, there's a slight problem with the plumbing and the electricity in one of the rooms so two of you will have to sleep in one room together."

"I'm the girl." Sakura stated, having claimed a seperate room.

"Hey, I'm not sleeping in one room with Sai! Who knows he'll try and see if I have a dick or not when I'm asleep!" Naruto seemed to be awake for the first time this morning.

"So you admit you're afraid I'll find out you don't have one?" Sai asked innocently.

"See?!" Naruto nearly yelled, poiting at Sai hyperactively.

"Relax, Naruto." Kakashi pu a hand on his head. "You can bunk in my room."

Naruto exhaled a gust of wind. He didn't mind staying in Kakashi's room since he'd stayed in the man's room when he was little and had a nightmare or something.

"Alright, that's settled." Sai appeared to be pleased that he got a seperate room.

"Follow me, please." Shiziko requested and lead them to their rooms.

~*~*~ In Naruto Kakashi's room ~*~*~

An extra bed was already foreseen when Naruto nupacked his stuff in the room he'd be staying in for the next few days.

When Shiziko left the room after explaining several things to Kakashi, he shut the door for him and turned to Naruto who was calmly unpacking his things.

He swiftly moved toward the teen, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him along and yanked at his collar agressively so the boy smacked into the wall with his back.

"What was that?!" Kakashi demanded of the blond teen inches away from him.

"What're you talking about?" Naruto asked innocently.

"That agressive, impolite behavior." Kakashi growled.

"Woah. I think it's you who's being agressive, sensei."

"Oh quit it, will you." the older man rolled his eyes.

"Just tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong." Naruto lied with a fake smile.

"Quit lying. You suck at it, always have."

"I'm not lyi-" Naruto tried to say, but Kakashi jammed his arm against Naruto's neck and forced the boy against the wall again.

"I told you not to lie to me." the man growled.

"Kch!" Naruto went as an automatic reaction to being trapped and in a tough situation.

"Now tell me what's wrong."

"Mind... your own.. fucking... business." Naruto said inbetween breaks since he had trouble speaking and breathing at the same time with his sensei's arm jammed against his neck.

Kakashi's right eye spread open in shock for just a fraction of a second before pinching to a slot. He shot Naruto an angry look through the slotted eye. He grabbed the boy by his shirt again, pulling him back slightly, then shoved him against the cold wall oncemore.

"You are my business." he snarled.

"No... I'm your... student."

"Exactly."

"My... business... is mine... only."

"Would you just listen to me for once?!" Kakashi grew aggrevated.

"Oh I hear you." Naruto could breathe normally again.

"Then obey like a student should." Kakashi hissed.

"Hn." Naruto grinned.

Kakashi couldn't believe his eyes nor his ears. This boy ... was he even Naruto? In that mere half of a second, he resembled the ravenhaired boy that had betrayed Naruto several years ago

... Sasuke ...

Naruto pushed his sensei's arm away and left the room, leaving the silverhaired jounin behind, staring at the wall where his adopted son had been shoved against seconds earlier.

Perhaps there was a kinder way to get the information out of him...

~*~*~ Later on ~*~*~

"Alright, listen up!" one of the camp instructors anounced to the group of teenage students. "These people here will be helping you and teaching you basic ninja defence techniques! You'll adress them as sir or m'am and you'll be polite to them! You shall treat them with the respect they deserve for coming all this way just to help you! Now, divide into two groups of 10!"

The teens did as the instructor had told them to and Kakashi motioned for his students to come over.

"Alright you guys, we'll be taking turns aswell. There's two groups so that means that we'll be teaching and guarding in groups of two. Every day we'll be switching teams. Understand?"

"Hai, sensei." Sakura and Sai said at the same time, but Naruto just completely ignored them.

"Alright, make up your mind on who you wanna' team up with for the rest of the day."

Sai and Sakura were both obviously not too keen on teaming up with Naruto. Both of them had noticed how something was bothering the blonde and neither of them felt like fixing it or finding out what it was. Somehow, they sort of expected Kakashi-sensei to take care of it since he was his adoptive father. But most importantly, he was the oldest and wisest member of the team. The sensei. He was the guy that had to keep the team together.

"Uhmm..." Sakura slightly hesitated. She'd usually be the first to team up with Naruto since Sai had joined the team, but now she really didn't know. And the way he'd been so agressive toward her... perhaps it was better for her to stray from him for a while.

"I'll go with flat-chest." Sai said with a 'smile'. You could tell he'd been practicing, but the smile still didn't seem too real.

"HEY!" Sakura bellowed, eventhough she was relieved.

Naruto shifted uncomfortably. His muscles were tight. He really wasn't in the mood to be tossed into a team with Kakashi after what just happened, but he'd have to team up with him sooner or later, so he'd rather it be now.

"Alright. Naruto, you follow me."

Naruto didn't bother saying anything as a sign that he understood, and just followed his sensei to one of the teams.

"Hello everyone." Kakashi greeted.

"Hello sensei." their team replied together in a chorus of cracked teenage voices.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi and this is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Nice to meet you Hatake Kakashi-san and Uzumaki Naruto-kun." the group said at (strangely) the same time. They'd have to practice that line over and over again before being able to say it at exactly the same moment. Oh well. So they were taught with strict rules. No biggie.

"So we'll just be teaching you one of the basic ninja know-hows. This one's called the transformation technique. It's used for several things as in disguise. It can be used to transform into a person so you can get information out of your enemy or throw them off, or you can transform into a thing so you can hide. Now you guys don't need to learn how to transform into a person, so we'll just try to teach you how to transform into a log. Do you all know how to gather chakra?"

"Errr..." the whole group seemed to be hesitantly shifting in place.

"I'll take that as a no." Kakashi chuckled.

Naruto moaned and sat down lazily.

"What's the problem, Naruto?" his sensei asked.

"Ugh. It's such a bother having to teach these newbies how to gather chakra." Naruto said, bothered by the midday sunlight blinding his eyes.

"This coming from the kid who thought it was pronounced chatara." Kakashi replied, bending over him so the blonde was no longer disturbed by the sun.

"Yeah, well, I was young then. These guys are as old as I am."

"Exactly, so you'll understand them better. Why don't you explain to them how to gather chakra?"

Naruto sighed. "How bothersome..."

He stood up slowly and folded his arms behind his head as he stared at the bright blue sky above him.

"Alright you lot... Focus on the pit of your stomach. Try to imagine a surging flow of power trying to reach every inch of your body, including even your fingertips. Keep focusing on the pit of your stomach. If it feels cold and yet hot with adrenaline and power, you're about right."

"It's working, sensei!" they all cried out.

Kakashi stared at the blonde boy. "Wow, Naruto.. never thought you were so good at such things."

"Hmph." Naruto slumped back down in the soft grass. He shut his eyes and bathed in the warm noon sun, trying to fall into a sleeping slumber for a few minutes.

Kakashi sat down beside him with a sigh. He watched the new students practice on gathering together their chakra. He'd occasionally give them a tip or correct them, but besides that, he just sat in the thick green blades of grass observing Naruto's chest slowly go up and down. The boy's angelic, yet demonic at the same time, features were so calm, smoothe and at peace.

"Sensei, I think we've all got it now. Can we start the next drill?" one of the teen's asked Kakashi.

Naruto opened one eye and glanced at the brunet towering over him. "No." he heaved a sigh.

"Why not Uzumaki-san?"

"'Cos you're not ready yet."

"Howso? I can do it. See?"

"Yeah, now you can."

"What do you mean, Uzumaki-taichou?"

Naruto inwardly scowled. He hated how they refrained from calling him 'sensei'. They probably also knew how he was still a Genin. How or why, he had no idea. But something in him told him that they knew that he was labeled as 'worth less'.

Oh don't overexaggerate, Naruto. You're being paranoid.* he thought as he stood up.

A soft breeze washed over him and awoke his insides. It purified his thoughts and cleansed his chakra. He reached into his pouch with shut eyes and pulled out several kunai. He walked over to the brunet boy and reached for his arm. He pulled out the boy's hand and put his kunai on the brunet's wrist.

Kakashi, who noticed what Naruto was doing, tried to stop him, but was too late.

Red sticky liquid came oozing out of the cut Naruto made in the teen's wrist. The teen shut his eyes in response and tried to pull his arm away, but Naruto's hold was too strong. Eventually he let go, though, and hunched down. There, he lifted the brunet's pants up and cut the teen's leg.

"Aargh!!" the new student cried.

"Naruto, what the heck are you doing?!" Kakashi demanded of the boy, shocked as hell.

Naruto was silent though as he proceeded. He disappeared and reappeared in a flash behind the brunet and poked the boy in the neck with his kunai softly.

"Now gather your chakra." the blonde murmured.

"H-h-h-h-hai sir." the brunet's teeth clattered hyperactively as he tried to put his hands together to perform the seal, but for some reason, his arms were shaking uncontrollably.

Naruto poked the kunai a little deeper into the boy's neck, just until that point where you know that if you push any harder, you'll penetrate the skin and make him bleed.

Kakashi was silent as he watched his adopted son act so much more grown up than he'd ever seen him act before.

"P-p-please don't!" the teen begged, and Naruto raised his eyes to the sky with a sigh.

"Told you you weren't ready." he muttered ever-so-softly, then walked away.

"Naruto!" Kakashi called for him, but he ignored the useless call.

~*~*~ 20 minutes later ~*~*~

If the blonde had to admit it, he'd say the campsite was extremely beautiful. Right now he was in a thick forest, relaxing in a tree. He inwardly sighed as he thought back of the brunet teen. He immediatly felt guilty for doing such a thing to the poor boy, but it was the student's own fault. If he weren't so high on mighty of himself, Naruto mightn't have done that to him. To be able to gather chakra means that you have to be able to do it at all times.

"Wasn't that the whole point of the exercise?" he asked himself with shut eyes.

"Well, not exactly." someone answered.

Naruto's eyes immediatly shot wide open, and he sprang to his feet. He scanned the area for another source of life. Ofcourse, it was Kakashi-sensei perched on a nearby tree.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Naruto grumbled.

"Woah, calm down. I just came to see where you were. It's time for dinner."

"It's fine, go ahead. I'll guard."

"Sai and Sakura are guarding." Kakashi replied smoothly, disappearing and reappearing infront of him.

"Then I'll keep them company."

"And nice company you'd be, too." Kakashi remarked sarcastically, chuckling.

"Hn!" was the boy's only reply as he grinned and turned his head away with shut eyes.

Kakashi slowly walked over to the blonde who still had his head turned away from him and placed the backs of his fingers on Naruto's cheek. The Genin's eyes shot open as a reaction, and he turned his head to face his sensei with an aggrevated look.

"Why do you always close your eyes?" Kakashi almost whispered.

"..." Naruto just stared at his sensei with his mouth agape.

"You're not him, Naruto.."

"I know!" his student spat out angrily.

"Then why...?"

Naruto smacked his sensei's arm away agressively. "None of your f*cking business." he murmured before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

Kakashi stared at the smoke that slowly started to evaporate, wondering when he ever taught Naruto how to teleport.

~*~*~ 10 minutes later ~*~*~

Naruto sat alone at a table, staring at the water in his glass as ripples formed on the surface every time someone would pass by him. All around him people were talking, laughing, screaming, or whatever, but he was just silently staring at the see-through substance.

That is, until a plate of greens suddenly slid over to him on the plastic table. Naruto's head cocked up, and he recognised the silverhaired masked man that took a seat across from him at the table. The blonde just dropped his head back down on his soft arms though as a sign that he rejected the vegetables on the clean white plate.

His eyes were fixed on the clear liquid in his glass again as the older man shoved the plate a little closer to the boy. Naruto ignored the gesture oncemore, and his sensei started to grow impatient.

"It's not one of the smartest ideas you've had." the masked shinobi told him.

"Ramen." Naruto sighed.

"I'm afraid they don't have that here." Kakashi inwardly laughed.

"Pff.." Naruto blew his hair out of his face and turned his head to the right.

"Ramen's bad for you anyway.."

"Ramen's a gift from heaven." Naruto muttered in response.

Kakashi chuckled. "Oh yeah? And which heaven may that be, then?"

"The standard one... you know, the one that states that greens are bad for you."

"Oh sure." Kakashi rolled his visible eye with his smile hidden behind his mask.

"Either you believe it or you don't, but I'm not eating that."

"You're gonna' starve." the jounin stated boredly.

"So be it, then." Naruto sighed as he flung his arm over the back of the chair and leaned back in it.

"You're so idiotically stubborn." Kakashi muttered disappointedly.

"So be it, then." Naruto repeated with utter boredom and shut eyes.

"You're gonna' seriously die if you live on ramen alone."

"So be it, then."

"And I'm gonna' personally make you suffer if you say that one more time."

"So be it, then."

Kakashi balled his fists underneath the table, but he couldn't bring himself to harm his student any more than he had this morning. He already hurt the boy enough for the day. And so, he decided to keep his head cool and whipe off imaginary dust on the table swiftly with his sleeve.

Naruto slightly sighed and sunk back into his chair.

"Would you just do me a favor and eat already?"

"No need."

"So you can say something besides 'so be it, then'." his wise sensei laughed.

"Apparently." Naruto shoved his chair away with a sharp noise and stood up. "I'm gonna' go guard." he said, and with that, he left.

The cool night air chilled Naruto's body and he could've sworn the hair on his arms raised. Since he wasn't wearing his sweatshirt like usual, the blonde teen was dependant on the black T-shirt with the orange swirls. He could suddenly sense someone coming up from behind him, and braced himself. He went into his pouch slowly, pulling out several kunai inbetween his fingers.When he was ready to turn around and attack, he could suddenly feel something warm on his shoulders. It was khaki and soft. A jounin vest. Naruto didn't need to think twice before knowing who's it was. And so, he shrugged it off and let it drop to the ground. He walked further away, not sparing Kakashi a single glance. He knew the man was following, though, but ignored him nonetheless and continued walking.

His sensei was silent all the while, even when Naruto sat down on a fallen down tree. Kakashi sat down beside him, resting his arms on his legs. Naruto turned the other way on the log, so they were sitting beside eachother, but in different directions.

Naruto could suddenly feel the older man curl his fingers around one of his blonde locks.

The boy wriggled his nose agitatedly, trying his hardest to seem impassive, but it still irritated him to no end.

And so, the almost 16-year-old whacked his sensei's hand away, still not looking at him.

Kakashi merely chuckled, though. It was a deep, dark, chuckle, but it was still a sign of laughter and happiness. Naruto guessed the man was happy that he was showing SOME kind of form of emotion, but being his stubborn self, he refused to show any more than that.

And so, his usually bright blue eyes now turned grim and grey with utter uninterest.

Neither said a word, sitting there for hours on end. The night had fallen and the sky was pitchblack. You could hear owl-hoots and other nature and wildlife cries, but no human sound. The silence was clearly bothersome to Kakashi, though. And, if Naruto had to admit it, it was extremely annoying to him, too. But he didn't allow himself to show any sign of weakness or vulnerability. He was Uzumaki Naruto. And Uzumaki Naruto was strong. Uzumaki Naruto was a grown man. Uzumaki Naruto was ... not himself. No matter how hard he tried, he could not be the man he wanted to be. Nor could he return to his previous identity.

Uzumaki Naruto now had only one option left to turn to. The Kyuubi. But could he be known as the Nine-tails jinchuuriki brat? No. He's always refused to be that. But since he couldn't be... him... perhaps it was better if he turned to SOME sort of identity. 'Cos Uzumaki Naruto just wasn't the person he could be anymore.

"You know, you're still pretty damn short for a 15-year-old." Kakashi suddenly disturbed the silence and Naruto's negative thoughts.

"I'm not short and I'm almost 16." Naruto sighed boredly.

Kakashi was still rather shocked that Naruto reacted so... uncaringly. Even after all this time, he was still used to Naruto being a live, happy, hyperactive, ball of yellow, flashy, excitement.

"I wanna' bet it's 'cos you only eat ramen." Kakashi awakened the nostalgic feeling of arguments. He was probably aiming to remind Naruto of their previous discussion, just to get some more frustration out of the teen.

"Uh-huh.." Naruto sighed oncemore, leaning his chin on his hands.

"You really should eat more vegetables if you still wanna' grow."

"That's right." Naruto 'sang', still completely ignorant to the man's words.

He could suddenly feel a hand on his head, ruffling through his hair. "And a little bit of interest wouldn't be bad, either." Kakashi added.

"Enlightening." Naruto remarked sarcastically.

"You know, I've been wondering..." the jounin continued, leaning back a little so he could now see Naruto's face. The boy still faced the ground, though, appearing completely oblivious to the man's presence.

"Why do you want to be so much..." Kakashi went on, swinging his legs around the tree so he was now sitting beside Naruto. "... Like Sasuke?"

And the question had been asked.

The question Naruto thought nobody would ask him. He thought nobody would be able to figure it out. He thought he'd put up such a great mask... Oh well. He clearly hadn't.

"I don't."

"You sure do." Kakashi disagreed.

"I'm nothing like him."

"Exactly; you're you. And he's himself. So don't pretend to be like him, it doesn't suit you."

"I'll be the judge of that."

"Would you listen to yourself?! What happened to you?"

"... Nothing."

"Sakura's worried about you, Naruto. Even Sai's worried, and that guy doesn't have any emotions."

"So?"

"... I'm worried about you."

"Would you look at me?" Kakashi asked, turning the teen's chin and raising his head to his level.

Naruto's grim eyes didn't look at Kakashi's, though. Naruto was a stubborn boy; what he didn't want, didn't happen.

"Why do you turn away from everyone?" the silverhaired man asked the blonde, his eyes suddenly blasting insurance and disappointment.

Naruto pushed Kakashi's arm away, though, turning his head back and standing up. He didn't feel like having this conversation with him. He didn't feel like having this conversation with anybody. Only... Sasuke.

And that's when he dropped to his knees and threw up. No, it wasn't throw-up, it was blood. A mixture of both. But blood was extremely clear.

Why did his body resent him so much? What was going on with him?

Before the blonde could react or disapprove, his sensei grabbed his arm and swung it over his shoulder, then wrapped his right arm around him and helped him get out of the forest.

"I won't say 'I told you so'." the man joked, just trying to get himself in a normal mood. He didn't want to worry himself. Firstly, Naruto wouldn't want it and would distance himself from the man as far as possible. And secondly, he knew that there was nothing to really worry about, things like these happened all the time in a ninja's world. You get hurt. Only, usually, your body doesn't hurt itself...

"Then don't." Naruto replied agitatedly in a hoarse voice, trying as much as he could to get away from the man. He didn't want nor need any help.

But Kakashi was just too strong for him, especially now. Now when Naruto's body was rejecting itself. How or why, neither of them knew. But it certainly wasn't normal.

And yet, the lythe boy didn't want to accept the fact that Kakashi was stronger, so he didn't give up. He detested the way the man could so easily stop him or keep him in control. He wanted to be able to win from him occasionally, to free himself from this cage of dependance. But he knew that this was also exactly what the older man didn't want. The last thing the silverhaired jounin wanted of Naruto was that the teen became independant. He liked being wanted and needed. If that's the only thing he really wanted of Naruto, it's that he'd be wanted and needed. But mostly needed. He wanted someone to need him to live on. He wanted an important person to actually need him. To need him so badly that if something might ever happen to him, that person couldn't live on. Perhaps it's because all his previous bonds had been broken so rapidly and easily. He didn't have it in control. And now he just wanted to build his bonds up so strongly that they couldn't break, no matter how hard the other person tries. He won't let go. The last thing he wanted was to let go of his precious people. He's let go of enough already...

But Naruto hadn't the slightest idea that Kakashi had such a background, he just thought that the older man liked being stronger and liked the idea of still being better than his students. That he didn't want his students to surpass him, 'cos they were his students, and he was their teacher. In Naruto's eyes, though, Sasuke had always been nearly as strong as Kakashi-sensei. And now, he's most likely even stronger. So why wasn't he? Why was it so hard for him to catch up to them both?! What was wrong with him?! What did Sasuke and Kakashi have that he didn't?!! Why wasn't he a natural talent?!! Why was everyone so goddamn strong?!!

He hated being so weak. He hated being so nameless. He hated being so hated. He hated being the bearer of the Kyuubi. He hated being neglected by Sasuke. He hated being weaker than Kakashi. He hated being unimportant to Sakura. He hated being a nuisance to Sai. He hated it all. He hated them all. He hated everything.

No, he wasn't such a hater of life. Not in the slightest. At least, he didn't used to be. He used to be happy and cheerful. He used to believe in his own worth. What happened to him?

~*~ Back in their room ~*~

Kakashi opened the door to their room and walked the boy to his bed. There, he set him down and went to get a bucket just in case something may happen again. When he came back though, Naruto was up again and tried to walk over to the window. Probably for some fresh air. The jounin pushed him back down on his bed and opened the window for him.

"I can do it." the blonde stated, annoyed to bits.

"I know, it's just easier this way." his sensei replied calmly, leisurely sitting down beside the bed.

"I'm not gonna' talk about what happened."

"That's fine." Kakashi said with shut eyes as his head faced the ceiling.

"I have no idea what happened myself." the boy continued, confused about his sensei's reaction.

"You don't need to."

"Alright then." Naruto stood up again, looking around for his pajamas, only the problem was that he almost fell down in the process. He was drowsy and he felt extremely lightheaded. The retired ANBU member decided to sigh and pull the boy back onto the bed and get the cotton striped clothing for him instead.

"I'm fine! I can do it myself!" the jinchuuriki snarled.

"I know." Kakashi yawned in reply, tossing the pajamas to the teen.

Naruto caught them just in time before they hit him in the head and started changing. During the process, the older man had turned his chair toward the window and gazed outside.

"You know, this is why you should eat vegetables, too."

"That has nothing to do with it." Naruto disagreed.

"It has everything to do with it. I really thought you knew this, though."

"How the heck am I supposed to know that stuff?!" Naruto grumbled, irritated.

"'Cos I've taught you."

"No you haven't." Naruto's eyes were now clear with innocence. It almost seemed as if he were doubting himself and trying to remember if the man ever taught him something like that before.

"I wanna' bet I have."

Naruto merely sighed. "Please, sensei, I'm really not in the mood to-"

"Don't." Kakashi suddenly interrupted. "Don't call me sensei."

"Huh? Oh, right.. we're now the same rank and all.. forgot."

"No, not that. It's just that I'm not your sensei when the others aren't around. I'm your father by adoption, Naruto."

"Exactly, adoption." Naruto growled back.

"ADOPTION." he repeated, only really putting pressure on the word now.

"Look at it the way you want, I'm your father by legal rights."

"You're not my father." Naruto sighed, leaning his back against the wall [their beds are extremely low to the ground, and they don't have backs nor fronts. They're actually sort of like hightened matrasses against the wall.].

"I'm your guardian." Kakashi disagreed.

"Guardian." the blonde scoffed.

The older man furrowed his brows. "Is there something wrong with that, then?" he questioned.

"No, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just that I don't need a guardian. Perhaps the Kyuubi does, and you all want the jinchuuriki to be watched. I understand that, but I, Uzumaki Naruto, do not need a guardian. I'm perfectly capable of-"

But before he could say any more, a kunai flung right at him and pinned his T-shirt against the wall. Then another, which pinned the other part of his T-shirt aswell, trapping him.

"And what now?" Kakashi asked him, quirking a brow.

"Now I use my chakra to find a way out." Naruto replied tonelessly.

"And what may that be, then?"

"I could use clones, I could even mold chakra into my feet and push you away with them. I may even just vanish from all sight and reappear behind you. Who knows..." *More like 'who cares?*

Naruto's eyes were now cold and hard. Porcelain sapphire. Only lifeless sapphire. Greyish sapphire. His bright blue river orbs were now dull grey-blue. Boring and dead.

"You're strong enough to escape, then. So why don't you?"

"There's no point in fleeing. I'm right where I want to be and I've got you right where I want you, aswell."

"And what if I have a back-up?"

"I do, too. What do you think the monster in the pit of my stomach is? A cartoon? It's a dangerous ravaging monster that could kill you in less than a second. Do you honestly think I'm weaker than you are? Pathetic."

Naruto really wanted Kakashi to react angry and upset, to attack him and hurt him, to remind him of all his mistakes and put all his problems in a row for him. To distract him of all the rest happening around him and to put his mind to one thing. But the man didn't. He only confused him more. The jounin did something totally unexpected.

The guy just hugged him!

What was that supposed to solve?! What did that do?! That shit's extremely overrated! It won't change fuck and everyone knows it.

And just for that, Naruto grew even more frustrated. He gathered all his might and pushed to older man off of him. The silverhaired jounin flew back and crashed into the wall.

Just then, Sakura and Sai walked in, all shocked and bewildered.

"Naruto!" Sakura gasped, and they both ran over to Kakashi-sensei.

"Would you guys all just leave it be for a moment?!!" Naruto nearly shouted, standing up and doing something none of them would've expected. They all expected Naruto to jump out the window or leave, but instead, he walked straight over to them.

He grapped Sakura by her shoulders, pinched them slightly, and yelled at her; "FORGET HIM!!"

After this, he calmly walked over to the window, took a deep breath, and jumped through it. Everyone but Sakura was completely oblivious to the tear that rolled down Naruto's cheek before he disappeared into the night.

 **So, w** **hat will happen with Kakashi and Naruto? heh, see ya next time. :v (Evil laugh)**

 **So how is it? Give me your comments, criticisms or suggestions. And I'd love to reply in the next chapter. Thank you.**

 **Ja ne!**


	7. Naruto (Part 2 end)

**I'm not own Naruto (Maybe except Hinata, do you guys allowed me to have her? lol)**

 **Aprilia Echizen: Yes, I like Naruto's dark side too. Maybe what he did to Kakashi's too much. lol Thanks for replying. :)**

 **The Stig's Roleplaying Cousin: It's fine dude. Don't worry about it. Thank you for still support my fanficftion.**

 **Warning: Bad words.**

He grabbed Sakura by her shoulders, pinched them slightly, and yelled at her; "FORGET HIM!!"

After this, he calmly walked over to the window, took a deep breath, and jumped through it. Everyone but Sakura was completely oblivious to the tear that rolled down Naruto's cheek before he disappeared into the night.

The cool mint night breeze played with Naruto's hair as he paced through it briskly. It had gotten way longer and more delicate with the years. His face had thinned down aswell, and his cheekbones were now much clearer than before. His eyes were still the same bright blue, only older and wiser. Now, ofcourse, they were dull and dead. But that was just for one reason. One reason that nobody could understand. The emptiness. The cold emptiness that told Naruto that whatever he tried, nobody would fill the gap.

And then there was the fear. The fear of the change. That nothing would ever be the same again. 'Cos, for as far as the boy knew, he'd found a nice home. A nice home with nice people and friends. But then everything had to change. And Naruto hated change. He feared change. Change meant hurt, and hurt meant blood. Blood meant the Kyuubi would go berserk, and that would mean killing. No, not just killing. It would mean that he would make people suffer. Suffer even more than the night the Kyuubi appeared. And making people suffer meant more hate and rejection. This would mean no becoming Hokage. That would be devastating. And he couldn't take any more hate from the villagers. 'Cos if he eventually did unleash all the power of the Kyuubi, he knew that even his friends and loved ones would turn against him, finally realising what a monster he was.

For the fact that even all the people that have been calling him a monster all along, torturing him for so many years, had no clue of what he was capable of. And he, himself, was certain that he had no idea what he could do either, but he knew that he had a power locked inside of him that nobody else could control. Only he, because he has grown with it, bled with it, depended on it, homed it, protected it, been protected by it, and has finally learned to love it. Like a parent loves its child. Unconditional love, they call it.

And Naruto was fascinated by this love. He was truly amazed at how he would always forgive the Kyuubi every time it killed and took control of his body. He was actually shocked that he never really hated the Kyuubi for it. And he was surprised when he noticed how he never blamed the Kyuubi for anything when the villagers sent him dirty looks or abused him.

Kyuubi healed Naruto. It constantly healed Naruto. Because Naruto needed a constant mending. A mending of his broken heart. But Kyuubi didn't mind, because Kyuubi knew it was his fault. Kyuubi knew the villagers hated Naruto because Kyuubi rented a nice big villa in the pit of Naruto's stomach and a tiny appartment in Naruto's heart. Everything in Naruto's body was cold, but Kyuubi's appartmentbuilding was strangely warm. And it got warmer and warmer the more Naruto was with his sensei, the pink-haired girl, the expressionless guy, the Uchiha guy Naruto thought of as a brother, but most of all... when Naruto was near his monster comrade. The Jinchuuriki of Suna. Yes, Naruto's heart would warm up at the sight of him. Because finally Naruto had found someone who understood.

And that's all one like Naruto could ever really desire. Somebody that truly understood. 'Cos not you, or me the writer, could ever understand the pain Uzumaki Naruto was in. Constantly. And so was this Sabaku no Gaara.

But no more of that. For this is not healthy for the young blonde. He hates thinking about these things. He hates thinking about change. He hates the thought as much as he hates thinking about the whole "what-if-there-isn't-anything-after-life-issue". It gets him so depressed...

And so, Naruto picked up his pace, trying to distract himself. He focused on animal cries and rustles of leaves and bushes. And also... footsteps. Rapid footsteps, coming up from behind him. A scent... Yes, he knew this man all too well.

He couldn't say it was a surprise, though. It never surprised him the way Kakashi always managed to find him. No matter where he was, the guy would always magically appear beside him. Like a magic trick. Only without the sparkle-powder. No purple balls of smoke or tracking-devices. Nope, just the guy and his good ol' nose. Perhaps a ninja hound or two..

Or perhaps it was Naruto who was being obvious, leaving clear footprints in the wet forest ground. Whatever the case, he sensed Kakashi walking up to him, aware of the fact that Kakashi knew Naruto sensed his presence.

And so he turned around to face the man.

Kakashi stared back, and neither said a word for a while.

"You're fast." Naruto commented.

"You're sloppy."

"Footprints?"

"Blood."

"Ah.. I see."

"You slit your fingers on the edge of the window."

"Figured as much."

"I think we should take you to the hospital for a check-up."

"Gee, Kakashi, they're just tiny cuts-"

"I'm not talking about the cuts."

"Hmm?" Naruto cocked his head to the side the way he always did when he was confused.

"I'm talking about the way you treated your teammate."

"Oh? Sakura?"

"That's the one."

Naruto turned a little, avoiding his gaze. "She deserved it." he muttered.

"Oh yeah? Did she now?" Kakashi quirked a brow, unbelievingly. "I thought you deserved a nice shake or two."

"I didn't fysically harm her." Naruto scoffed.

"Nope. You didn't. But mentally you did."

"Howso? She cryin' about good ol' Sasuke?"

"She's crying,"

Naruto scoffed again and folded his arms as he rolled his eyes as if to say, "Typical."

"But not about Sasuke." Kakashi finished his sentance.

"What then? Did I hurt her shoulders or something?" there was no sarcasm in Naruto's voice. Worry, actually, was extremely clear, though.

"No, she's crying about you. She's worried about you. You're scaring her. Damn it, Naruto, you're scaring me."

"Then you're all overreacting."

"You're the one who's overreacting, Naruto! Don't you realise yourself how much you've changed?"

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't. So I would really appreciate it if you all just let me be."

"Sorry, Naruto, no can do."

"Why not?" Naruto growled.

"'Cos I care too much about you."

"Oh don't give me that loving-father crap. You and I both know it isn't your style. You don't mention things like that. You're not the kind of guy that goes around telling everyone you love them. You keep your distance and wear a mask. To you, there's no need to tell anybody you care about them. To you, they have to read you well enough to know this themselves."

Kakashi just stared at him in awe before replying casually, "Correct. Which is why I'm telling you right now that I do. Because I don't think you see it."

"Oh I see it. Don't worry." Naruto said rather bitterly.

"Does it bother you?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"... I don't believe it."

"Believe what? That I care about you?"

"I don't believe that you care about me the way you say you do. You care about me the way people worry about losing their homework, or not studying for an exam. You care about me like you care about a stray pup. I'm not one of your ninja hounds, Kakashi."

Kakashi didn't say anything. Instead, he just walked over to the boy slowly, making sure he didn't back away as he did so. When he was only a foot or two away from him, he poked his finger between Naruto's eyes, above the bridge of his nose. Naruto was confused, and Kakashi took this opportunity to pull out some ninja wire at an incredible speed, tying the boy to one of the nearby trees.

"You're not as skilled as you say you are." Kakashi remarked disapprovingly.

"What the fuck?! Cut this damn wire right now you dickhead!!" Naruto yelled on the mossy wet ground. The sight of it reminded Kakashi of a certain display years ago with Sasuke when he lectured the raven about a jutsu.

"And why would I do that?" a tiny smirk was hidden behind Kakashi's mask.

"'Cos I fuckin' said so, that's why!"

"Hmmm... nahh.."

"Ass. You're such a prick, you know that?!"

"Well I'm glad to see you're back to your normal self again."

"Oh just shut the fuck up. Jerk."

"What's with the language, though?"

"That's the way I talk, got a problem with it?!"

"Yeah, actually I do."

"Then spit it out, asshole!"

"It doesn't suit you. I didn't bring you up this way."

"Don't fuck with me. You didn't bring me up at all. I had to teach my fucking self."

"No, you didn't. Why do you keep insisting on that, anyway?"

"'Cos that's the fucking way it goes. Nothing changes and everything stays the fucking same."

"Do you dislike that, then?"

"Hell no. I fuckin' love it." Naruto had an evil-like smirk curved on his lips.

"Then why do you act like you hate it when things stay the same?"

"...'Cos change is even worse."

And that's when Kakashi saw it. The glint in Naruto's eyes. That wasn't the same honesty in his voice, that was fear. Fear of the unknown. And Kakashi knew all about Naruto's fear. He's seen alot of it, and he knows every single one of them. Which is why he decided to tie him up to the tree. He was evil for doing this to his own son, but things had to be done. He had to get the old Naruto back. And to do so, he had to make Naruto face one of his greatest fears. He had to make Naruto ask for his help. He had to make Naruto learn to love again.

And there it was. The preparation for his plan. The first drops of rain pounded gently on his jounin vest and dampened his silver hair, making it lose some of its wild volume. Only half a minute later, the soft raindrops turned into rapid balls of icecold liquid. The clouds were no longer white and the sky was no longer blue. It was a big mass of grey and black.

"Would you untie the fucking rope already?!" Naruto started to get wilder by the moment, probably also aware of the fact that a storm was on its way.

"Mmm... No." Kakashi sat down with a content sigh and leaned his back against a tree opposing Naruto.

"Fucking bastard." Naruto growled as he tried to untie it himself, moving around rapidly and fumbling with the wire was strong and had his hands jammed against the muggy treebark firmly.

The rain had started to pound down on their bodies faster, harder, bigger, and colder. The wind had picked up aswell and raged through the trees, making a mess of their wet hair. And there it was. Kakashi had been waiting for it, and Naruto had been wishing it'd never come.

A loud rumble in the sky made Naruto's eyes spread open wide and had him moving his hands rambunctiously, trying fractionatly to untie the ninwire. Kakashi merely watched the blonde's pathetic attempts, both aware of the fact that he'd fail. And yet, he didn't do anything.

"UNTIE ME!!" Naruto demanded with a scary edge to his voice. His tone was angry, even furious, and his eyes finally held some sort of true emotion. It lingered in his reddish eyes for a moment, stating that the teen was now past furious and was ready to get outraged.

"Woah, calm down. You aren't scared of a little bit of water, are you?" Kakashi quirked a brow, feeling guilty instantly. He knew it was wrong to pester the boy about it, and understood that lightning storms was something many people were afraid of. He just wanted Naruto to admit it himself, to admit that this was something he specifically was afraid of, and not Sasuke. Sasuke wasn't in the least frightened of lightning, he controlled it. But Naruto, on the other hand, had an incredible fear of lightning storms. Most likely because the night of the birth of the Kyuubi inside of him and the death of his parents had been one of the only nights there were lightning storms in Konoha.

Naruto's body twisted and turned in all directions, trying to find possibilities to cut the wire. If he could move that way, he might be able to reach his kunai. If he turned this way, he might be able to free himself, too. So many possibilities, but none eligible to him or the position he was in.

And he couldn't manage to untie himself before his true fear flashed in the corner of his eye, several kilometers away, followed by a loud rumble up above him.

He shut his eyes to hide the fear from his sensei as his body started to shake. It jerked into random positions, pulling on the wire as hard as it could. But it was no use.

"Let me go!!" he pleaded, an unintional begging tone added to his plea.

"You scared o' lightning, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, mentally breaking himself down. He wanted Naruto to shout something in reply like, "Ofcourse I am! You know I am!" but instead, the blonde merely looked the other way as the rain poured down on them.

The Genin bit his bottom lip, trying to calm himself down as he waited for another burst of lightning. He didn't want to see it, so he shut his eyes, impatient, scared, and hurt. Hurt for being 'teased' by Kakashi in this way. Hurt for not being able to face his fears. But most of all, hurt for being proved that he was, indeed, different than Sasuke. And he couldn't pull it off being his raven rival and friend.

When Naruto couldn't hear any lightning, he slowly opened one eye, then another. When both stressed eyes were just open, his heart double-pounded as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. He tried to count the seconds, but his sanity started to slip and he was overwhelmed by fear. He winced when another loud crack of lightning illuminated the dark sky.

"Let me go," he whined, turning more fearful by the second.

"What?" Kakashi asked, though Naruto knew the man had heard him and clearly understood him.

"Let me go..please.."

Kakashi walked over to him and perched down infront of him. "So you admit you're scared of lightning?"

Naruto's gaze dropped to the drenched forest ground as if he were denying this. He, too, knew that once he actually said it, he'd be admitting that he and Sasuke were different, that he was Uzumaki Naruto again, and things would go back to how they were. Wow, anticlimactic how he really wished he could change right now. After all the hate and resent he felt toward change, he wanted it desperately now.

Another crack of lightning and some more loud rumbling had Naruto back to his state of shock. His pupils started to tremble hyperactively within the riverblue pools surrounding them, which had finally returned to being riverblue.

"UNTIE ME THIS FUCKING INSTANT YOU SICK FAGGOT!" he yelled through the pounding rain.

Kakashi didn't deny that it was a sick idea of his, but it did work. He even almost smiled when he saw the bright blue take over the grey in Naruto's fear-stricken eyes. He felt bad for making him so scared, but he was overwhelmed with joy when he realised the Genin was going to be back to normal first thing in the morning. That is, if he got him to admit his fears.

Not that he hadn't already made the blonde admit to them years ago. He remembered that night as clearly as he remembered becoming a jounin.

Team 7 had just finished their mission when raindrops started to leak from the grey clouds. Sakura complained that her hair was getting wet and started bothering Sasuke, asking him how the spikes in his hair stayed so straight. Then she started giving the team a whole documentary about how her hair would become fuzzy and poofy and she wouldn't be able to straighten it well and it would affect her personality and the way she talked. Kakashi had always known there was something holy about girls' hair.

But even if Sakura's story was uninteresting to the three male members, the usually bright Naruto would've listened. But that's just it, the usually bright Naruto wasn't usually bright anymore. Was it the rain? Maybe he was just happier when the sun shined, who knows?

"Guys, let's hurry up." said child suggested, picking up his pace even more, making it hard for his teammates to follow.

"Slow down, Naruto, the mission's over. We just have to get to the Hokage and then we get to go home. Right, sensei?" his pink-haired friend asked Kakashi.

"That's right. But if you want, I can go deliver the report myself so you guys can get home before you catch a cold."

"Alright," Sakura smiled kindly at her teacher, "that'd be really nice, I've heard it's going to storm tonight. Lightning and all."

All but Kakashi appeared oblivious to the shudder going over the spine of the blonde Genin up front.

"Alright, see ya' guys." and with that, he poofed away...

~A while later~

He reappeared infront of his house. When he opened the door, he was surprised to find all the lights out. Had one of the lightningstrikes broken the cables or something? That'd suck... But when he clicked the light on, it worked fine. Maybe Naruto just didn't feel like turning the light on, no big deal. Speaking of which, where was the blonde kid?

A flash of lightning illuminated the room for a moment, making it completely white. He heard a quiet yelp from upstairs. It would've been inaudible if it weren't for the older man's trained ears. And so he made his way up the stairs and knocked on Naruto's door twice before opening it, not bothering to wait for an answer.

At first he couldn't see him, but then he noticed the small foot sticking out from under the bed. He ducked down and turned his head so he could see the frightened 12-year-old cover his ears and press his eyes shut, trying to block out the dangerous electricity.

He didn't really quite know what to do, never being in that kind of state, so he just did what his instincts told him to and pulled the boy out from under the bed. Naruto's body twitched for a second, not aware that there was anybody there yet, but when he peeked open his eyes to see who it was and saw black jounin fabric on a gloved arm, he knew it was his sensei. The man placed him on the bed, where the boy tightened his fingers on the bedsheets and crumpled them up.

"I'm not afraid." he said with a shaky voice, the fear obvious in his eyes.

"I know." Kakashi said, kneeling down on the creaky wooden floor so his eyes were on the same level with Naruto's. He sat there infront of the boy, slightly nervous since he had no idea what to do. But when he saw Naruto's fingers twirling faster and faster around his sheets, he knew how to soothe him. He took Naruto's wrist and put the boy's hand on his fingertips. The blonde absently started curling Kakashi's fingers, almost unaware of it himself. Just like on the day they met for the first time.. Only Naruto was too young then to remember that.

Another strike of lightning and Naruto nearly jumped up on the bed. He would've if it weren't for his stubborn mind telling him not to show the older man any fear on his behalf. He had to show his sensei how strong he was and that he could handle it. He was Uzumaki Naruto! He wasn't afraid of anything!

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled oncemore, and Naruto couldn't help but softly yelp, taken by surprise. His eyes widened in his wave of anger directed toward himself when he realised that he was squeezing Kakashi's fingers. He quickly pulled back his hand and used it to cover his mouth. He shifted uneasily, straightening his back to show that he wasn't afraid. But he wasn't fooling anyone. Kakashi could see right through him and his little act.

Which is why the jounin couldn't help but smile softly behind his mask when an extremely loud rumble of thunder echoed through the room and the blonde hid himself underneath his blankets. Half a minute later, though, he uncovered his head, saw the small glint of amusement in his sensei's eyes and threw the blanket off of himself instantly.

"I'm not afraid!" he repeated. He helplessly searched for determination in his voice, but Naruto, too, realised now how scared his voice sounded. He tried clearing his throat but the lump of guilt telling him he was a coward was in the way.

"I know you're not afraid," Kakashi replied soothingly as he picked the blanket up off the floor. The room was cold, so it was a good excuse to wrap the boy in the soft, warm fabric. When his student - /son – was covered and wrapped in the light-brown checked quilt and couldn't really move anymore since it was wrapped around him so tightly, he sat down on the bed beside him, putting an arm around the blonde. And even through the thick blanket, he could feel the kid shiver in utter horror.

"You don't need to help me. I'm not scared of anything." Naruto insisted, managing to loosen the blanket a bit and get his arms out so he could remove Kakashi's arm. His fear-stricken eyes tried their best to look determined as he looked his sensei in the eye. His hands rested firmly on his knees, cold and wet from the rain he had to forge a way through to get home.

But the jounin wasn't fooled. Especially when a loud crack of lightning had him shaking oncemore, tightening his grip on his knees and shutting his eyes. He could tell that the Genin was having quite a struggle with himself to try and keep himself from shouting his fear and hiding under the bed again.

"Wakatteru," Kakashi softly repeated, for once in his life not minding having to repeat himself. He watched as his student grit his teeth and straightened his back again, trying his hardest to have a strong and respectful posture. But it weakened and bent again once the thunder followed after the lightning. Naruto still had his eyes pinched tightly shut, not daring to see what he was so afraid of.

"C'mere." the silver-haired man instructed, pulling the boy closer as he leaned back against the wall. The blonde sat beside him, also leaning his back against the cold stone. The blanket was draped over his legs, hiding his shaking hands which were still grabbing hold of his knees.

Kakashi turned so he could look at him, and tried to think of something that might be able to get Naruto's mind off of the storm raging outside. Or perhaps just make him feel better. Anything.

"You know, thunder can tell you how far away the lightning is. The longer it takes for the thunder to come after seeing the flash, the farther away the lightning is. Per three seconds there's like a whole kilometer."

Naruto's eyes had opened slowly, but his shivering hadn't stopped yet.

"You don't need to tell me this, sensei, I'm not afr- eek !!" Naruto's unconvincing words had been interrupted by another flash of lightning. The hard pounding of the rain on the window wasn't making it any better either as it froze the room to bits.

Naruto hid his eyes as tears spilled from them. He was ashamed and embaressed. How could he call himself a ninja if he was afraid of some lightning and a little bit of thunder? How could he prove to the world that he was worthy of being the Hokage if he couldn't even get through a little storm? And to think that his sensei was here to see him tremble in fear.. unforgivable.

Kakashi pulled Naruto's hands off of his eyes and put them on his own instead. Naruto started fumbling with Kakashi's fingers again unawarily, as though it was an automatism. Kakashi turned the boy away from the window with his free hand and gently draped the blanket back over him.

Whenever a lightning strike illuminated the room and Naruto tried to turn around and see, the older man merely turned him around again, not allowing him to see what he was so afraid of. And whenever a soft whimper escaped his lips at the sound of the rumbling of the thunder, he'd hush him and cover his ears. Whenever he'd shut his eyes and shiver, Kakashi would push back a streak of his blond hair and whisper things like, "I know you aren't afraid. You aren't scared of anything."

He'd gently stroke his cheek and wipe away the tears that would find a way out of his scared blue orbs.

And when the storm was nearly over and the rain gently pounded against the window, Naruto's breathing started to slow and he fell asleep. But even when the boy was sleeping, Kakashi didn't leave him. Not only 'cos he'd have to repeat the whole process if Naruto were to wake up and the storm would return, but because he knew he had to be there for him. Like a father should be.

"UNTIE ME, DICKHEAD!! BEFORE I MAKE A FUCKING CORPSE OF YOU!!" Naruto yelled furiously, shaking Kakashi out of his thoughts.

"You can't move, how are you supposed to make a corpse of me?" Kakashi quirked his visible brow, then rested his chin on his hand as if he were bored.

"You're a bastard, you know that? A sick jerk who thinks it's fun to make fun of others. Well I'm gonna' tell you this, fucker, I ain't afraid o' nothin!!"

The jounin, who was perched down a couple of feet away from the blonde, removed his hand and looked Naruto in the eye seriously. "I know. I know you aren't afraid."

Naruto's eyes shot open wide as he remembered that night. The night Kakashi had fought him through his fears. He'd helped him. The only person that actually would... The only person that cared. After all the resentment he'd get from the villagers, he knew he could always come home to somebody who didn't hate him. So why was he acting like such a prat to him? Why was he being so evil? A spoiled brat, that's what he was.

"You.. I..." but Naruto was at a loss for words.

"I didn't... I wasn't... I... I'm.."

His eyes shot from left to right as he searched for the right words. He avoided his sensei's gaze, ashamed of himself for being so insufferable.

"I'm.. I'm sorry."

Slowly but surely, he looked Kakashi in the eye, to find it understanding and forgiving. Not at all angry. And he was thankful for that.

Kakashi cut the wire, but the blond teen didn't move.

"I was... I acted like such a-"

"Naruto." Kakashi's voice caught his attention. The silver-haired man placed a hand on Naruto's head and looked him in the eye deeply. "It's alright. I understand. Now let's go see Sakura, okay?"

It took a while for Naruto to smile and reply. "Hai!"

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So how is it? Give me your comments, criticisms or suggestions. And I'd love to reply in the next chapter. Thank you.

Ja ne!


	8. I'm sorry (Part 1)

**I'm not own Naruto** **but Masashi Kishimoto.**

 **Aprilia Echizen: I guess I agree with you. But that's the only way for Naruto to become himself again, right?** **lol Thanks for reply and comment, I appreciate it. :)**

It didn't take Kakashi longer than 2 seconds to get a firm grip on reality and twist his lazy posture into place.

"Wait, Kakashi-san, they're not allowing visitors yet!!" Izumo called after him, but Kakashi didn't really care what the Chuunin had to say. His whole world was vibed and sprung into panic. His mind was one big swirl of confusion, frustration and even anger. Anger directed toward himself. How could he let something like this happen?! Why wasn't he there?! And then the most hurtful question of all; did he just break his promise?

"God fucking damnit!" he cursed under his breath, disappearing and reappearing in and out of sight, trying to move faster than his legs or jutsu could take him. Half a minute later he was barging up the stairs in Konoha's hospital, knowing for a fact that he couldn't bare to take the elevator. Just standing around waiting for the darn thing would get him hyper and might end up leaving him with a nervous tick. No, the 20 flights of stairs would do just fine.

For some reason, Naruto had always been given one of the highest rooms in the whole hospital. Probably because many people complained that being on the same floor with him might cause some kind of disease to break out. Some even claimed to feel the demon's evil chakra making them sicker. An utterly disgusting accusation, Kakashi had refferred to it. But he wouldn't waste time nor energy on any of those sickening people. He vowed to himself to just keep away from them and make sure he didn't kill them. He was quite proud of himself when achieving this goal.

"What's wrong with him?!" the usually bored-looking Kakashi demanded, not even realising he was in the wrong room since the words were out before the door was actually thrusted open.

"Uhm, who?" the nurse asked, standing next to an old lady's bed.

"Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto!" Kakashi's visible eye now gleamed with even more stress than before.

"Oh, Uzum-" the nurse tried to say, but Kakashi didn't even let her finish her sentance. Young girls like her should just answer instead of staring out into space and recalling upon patients' names.

"Yeah! That one! Where is he?!" the silver-haired man demanded.

"Uhm, I believe he's downstairs on the second floor. You know, the ICU floor."

"Intensive care?! Why?!"

"I'm sorry sir, I don't know, I'm not allowed in that department yet. I only studied-"

But before the girl could tell him all about how many years of which school and where she studied, Kakashi had flung open the door again and stormed downstairs oncemore. Alright, 18 flights of stairs, not that bad at all.

"Nice man.." the old lady said with a toothless smile, looking at the nurse whose loose streaks of hair that had missed her ponytail blew in the gust of wind the man left her with.

-R-

"I'm sorry sir, you're not allowed in here." a male nurse told Kakashi, holding his hand against his chest, pushing him further away from the room Naruto was currently in. Through the long horizontal window Kakashi could see the blonde with tubes in his mouth, needles in his arms, and people standing all around him in white attire, operating on his open and bleeding chest.

Kakashi couldn't say anything. His eyes were fixed upon the unconscious teen as his legs just kept moving forward, trying to close the distance between him and the broken boy. He promised... he promised... he PROMISED! Why couldn't these people get that?! Why couldn't these morons understand that he promised he wouldn't let any harm come to his teammates?!! Especially... the lythe whiskered male whose smile may soon be no more. He couldn't bare the thought of losing him. He couldn't bare the thought of no longer seeing that beautiful happiness in gleaming riverblue orbs. That kid was his last hope. He'd pushed away everybody for so many years, putting up walls and setting up defences so he would no longer have to bare the pain of losing someone important. And then he finally let someone in, who was going to die. No! He couldn't think these things! He was wrong! It's not because he's in the ICU that he's going to die! It's not true. Not Naruto. Naruto fights. Naruto's got the Kyuubi, and the Kyuubi will constantly heal him. Naruto will live.

"Sir, please, don't make this any harder on us." the nurse appeared to be saying things the whole time as he pushed Kakashi backwards. But the fazed man only snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a certain pink-haired kunoichi's voice.

"Kakashi-sensei!" she noticed.

"Hmm?" his head turned to face an expressionless Sakura. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail just like the other nurse and there was a little white hat placed on her head, symbolising that she was a doctor here.

"It's alright, let him in." Sakura instructed the male nurse who had been restraining Kakashi the entire time.

"But, m'am, we can't let anyone-"

"Let.Him.In.!" Sakura repeated through grit teeth.

"..Yes m'am." and the male held the door open for Kakashi, who was immediatly at Naruto's side, happy he could finally close the gap.

But Naruto's eyes were shut and he wasn't aware of the silverhaired man's presence. The people who were operating the boy were obviously frustrated that the masked jounin had entered the room and was now standing in the way, but Kakashi couldn't care less.

"He's broken several ribs and he's suffered lots of blood-loss. He's also had a concussion and he's been severely poisoned. His right arm is broken, probably beyond repair, and a Genjutsu attack has messed with his mind. A fire technique has also scarily burnt his whole right half and his right eye is possibly blinded. His chakra-channel has been cut off around the area of his lungs and the Kyuubi's dome. We believe the Kyuubi will no longer heal Naruto and he may never be able to call upon the Kyuubi again. Nevertheless, I believe we can still save him."

Sakura's facial expression hadn't changed at all and was completely serious throughout her whole explanation. Kakashi's, on the other hand, appeared grim and sorrowful. He sunk down onto his knees and placed three of his ungloved fingers on Naruto's right cheek, which was terribly burnt. The feeling of the scrappy skin was terrifying and horrible. It hurt Kakashi so much to see his son this damaged.

Just one glance at the broken and possibly mendless body scarred him so deeply that all kinds of visions started blurring his mind...

That first day, when those big blue eyes looked up at him expectantly, waiting for a reason to have to get out of the kitchen cupboard... A goofy smile on a blue-eyed boy when he realises he's caught ditching school... A determined grin and self-certain blue eyes on an 11-year-old's face when he hears Kakashi will train him... Or the time the boy realised medicinal alcohol didn't hurt at all and scared blue eyes were calm oncemore... Perhaps even that night the blue-eyed boy was so ill he clung to Kakashi for warmth... Or the night scared blue eyes looked at him for reassurance and turned grateful when his apology was accepted and he was able to smile oncemore...

Stupid things entered his mind aswell, pretty much everything that happened in his life, spending time with the blond boy. Like receiving a decorated empty cereal-box for christmas from a 4-year-old, or having to go the the teacher-parent night and feeling embarressed for being the parent of an 8-year-old who constantly ditches class or causes trouble in the cafeteria. Even the petty things like teaching a 6-year-old how to tie his shoelaces and then a 10-year-old how to tie a tie and put on a tux. Or telling an 10-year-old no ramen for a week and receiving evil looks and pouts. Even teaching an 11-year-old the most affective way to clean the blood off of his weapons was a bonding moment to Kakashi. Whiping away the tears of a scared 12-year-old during a lightningstorm, or just whiping dry blood off a 13-year-old's cheek. Checking a 14-year-old for injuries or checking if a 15-year-old's mission went well.

In any case, everything, all those days, all those normal moments, would soon be different. They may be lost and gone forever, or change and fade slowly. Either way, they would no longer be the same. Nothing would be. All because Kakashi broke his promise.

"But, Kakashi-sensei, you really need to get out of our way now." the pinkhaired medic-nin told her sensei, smiling seriously.

"Yes. Alright." Kakashi mumbled, leaving the room.

Once he was outside, he got tackled against the wall. Trembling fists had moulded their grips on Kakashi's black jounin sweater and shook him agressively.

"How bad is it?!" a stressed-out Iruka demanded of him. Streaks of the Chuunin's hair had missed his ponytail and hung down clumsily. The tanned man didn't care in the slightest though.

"How bad is it!?" he repeated, now frustrated aswell.

"He... he's..." Kakashi's eyes raised to the ceiling as he tried to collect his vocabulary.

"Will he get better again?!" Iruka demanded of the older man. Tears stung the Chuunin's eyes as he shook Kakashi oncemore. "WILL HE GET BETTER AGAIN?!" he nearly yelled.

"I.. I don't know..." Kakashi's visible onyx eye was drained of all emotion. It wasn't filled with tears like Iruka's, nor was it serious like Sakura's. It was just emotionless. Empty. Scared, perhaps? Unknowing. Yes, that's the word. 'Cos it's true. He had no idea how bad it was or would be. All he knew was that it was his fault.

Iruka shut his eyes and leaned his forehead against Kakashi's chest, allowing the tears to stream down his face freely. He didn't have the strength to hold them in. Naruto was like a little brother to him, if not a son like the boy was to Kakashi. For some reason, Iruka felt like he was one of the blonde's parents. Only not legally. That was Kakashi's job. They were both Naruto's parents, only not from the same family. They both cared for Naruto, just not the way others did. They had their own way of doing things. And it was fine this way. Which is why he found strength in the silverhaired man who was, just like him, the hurt boy's guardian. Kakashi knew how he felt. And he knew how Kakashi felt. They had to help eachother through this, no matter how hard or shitty it may be.

"Iruka-san." Sakura greeted. "I'll fill you in on his situation if you want, but you have to stay outside, alright?"

"Yes. Yes, please do."

Iruka sat with Sakura on the bench outside of Naruto's room as they went over Naruto's case. There weren't many people here, so Naruto was being given superior treatment.

Kakashi drained out their conversation, occasionally catching several bits and pieces of the terrible sentances. Everything that came out of her mouth was like poison to Kakashi's heart. It throbbed and ached with every little misfortune Naruto was going through.

Broken... Concussion... Poisoned... Genjutsu... Blinded... Blood-loss... Burnt... Kyuubi... Chakra-channel... Beyond repair... Save him...

"Sakura-sama, he spoke!" someone in the operation room called for his mentor.

"I'm there, Kuyuza." Sakura replied, up on her feet within the second, plastic gloves around her hands swiftly and quickly.

Kakashi followed her, ignoring the woman who reminded him of the fact that Sakura told him to get out of their way. Iruka entered the room aswell, infuriating the female doctor. Soon after she realised she wasn't getting a reaction out of either of the two and gave up hopelessly.

Naruto tried to talk but no sound came out of his mouth. His lips barely moved aswell, making the sight itself heartbreaking. He tried oncemore, but only a cracked high-pitched gust of breath was audible.

"Don't speak, Naruto." Sakura told him as she worked on something in his ribcage. Her hands were whizzing a glowy green light as she went over his bloodied body.

Kakashi uncovered his sharingan eye and both Naruto and Sakura got it immediatly. It took Iruka a few seconds before he caught on aswell. Kakashi could read Naruto's lips with his Sharingan.

"Uchi..ha... Ita..chi..." he read. Kakashi's hands balled into fists instantly as the sight of the blackhaired Uchiha missing-nin came to his mind. But before he could take his anger out on anybody, Naruto's eyes appeared content and actually happy when his lips moved oncemore.

"Sa...suke.." his mouth shut and crept up into a tiny smile. He shut his eyes contently, welcoming the warm memory of his blackhaired teammate.

But Kakashi wasn't as happy with Sasuke as Naruto was. Even if the ravenhaired boy had hurt Naruto this much, the blonde still smiled at the thought of having seen his friend again. It was only when Iruka's hand had stilled his shaking arm that Kakashi realised he balled his hands oncemore and his fists were glowing white bony pale flesh as they trembled furiously.

The jounin's usually laid-back and uncaring expression was now filled with anger and disgust. He resented those Uchiha brothers. The hate he felt for them was undescribable, really. They hurt, broke, burnt, scarred, tormented, tortured, and nearly-killed the only person he really cared for. They made all those happy memories painful and disturbing. They ruined everything!! This wasn't supposed to happen! Not to Naruto! It anybody, it should've happened to him! But not his dear son. Not his great sensei's son. Not the happy ray of sunlight that constantly illuminated the village and gifted the villagers with newfound hope. In every painful moment or dangerous situation, the blonde had always been there to protect his village. To protect the people that had hated him all his life. And he did it with a smile. Constantly.

This child was honest, loving, caring, smiling, giving, innocent, overly-friendly, forgiving, promising, believing, hopeful, relieving, soothing, but above all, kind. He was too kind for his own good. He had his goofy moments, even cranky moments, but he also had kindness Kakashi had never seen in anybody else before. People could scold him, beat him, hurt him, insult him, ignore him, detest him, accuse him, assault him, etc, and he would still protect them from danger.

And those two fuckhead Uchiha's RUINED that. They RUINED this promising teen's future. And he FORGAVE them. Because he's so overly fucking kind, he actually forgave them for messing up every chance he had of becoming the Hokage and fulfilling his dream. And Kakashi hated Itachi and Sasuke for it. He hated them with everything he had.

"Kakashi?" Iruka asked.

Kakashi looked at Iruka sideways, noticing the shock in the chuunin's eyes.

Apparently, nobody had ever seen him this enraged before. But that wasn't what confused him or irritated him. What really prickled his senses was that they weren't outraged themselves! Why weren't they going out of their minds with bottled-up emotions?! Why weren't they freaking out?! Why weren't they smacking their fists into walls?! Why weren't they at least ANGRY?!

The jounin fixed his gaze back toward the pinkhaired kunoichi. "Fix him." he told her gravely, his voice meaningful, strict, and rough.

"I'll do what I can, sens-" she told him seriously, but he bit her off.

"FIX HIM." he repeated.

"I can't promise anyth-"

"Fix him! Heal him! You know medical ninjutsu! You know the problem! Now do something about it!"

Sakura sighed. "Iruka-san, can you please guide Kakashi-sensei out of here?"

"Sure. Come on, Kakashi." Iruka pryed him kindly, tugging at his arm. Kakashi shook it off agressively, though.

"I want you to tell me you'll fix him." he told his former student seriously. This is the first time Sakura has heard such desperateness in the strong man's voice before. She shut her eyes and nodded.

"I'll do everything in my power to do so."

"Alright." Kakashi replied and left the room like she wanted. Iruka followed soon after, staring at Kakashi's back as the man walked outside.

 **14 hours later**

Kakashi and Iruka had spent the last 14 hours on the bench and at the coffee-machine. Sadly, Kakashi had worked up an old habit. He was now standing at the sigarette-machine, absently staring at the names of all the brands. In the end, he didn't buy any and just turned to the coffee-machine. He didn't really like smoking, actually. The last time he did it was the day his sensei died, leaving him utterly alone in the world. And that only lasted for a week.

Coffee, on the other hand, was undeniable. It sort of became routine over the past few hours. He got a cup, then 15 minutes later Iruka got one. Another 15 minutes later it was his turn, the next quarter of an hour it was Iruka's again. This went on and on until now, when Iruka came running downstairs, panting with a red face.

"What? What is it?" Kakashi asked quickly, not leaving the Chuunin any time to answer.

"What's going on?! Tell me!"

Iruka tried to catch his breath what with Kakashi hurrying him and all. He collected his words, trying to find the right way to say this.

"Spit it out, Iruka!"

"His ribs are mended, they did what they could with his chakra channel but it'll take time before he can breathe normally again, and.."

"And? What?!"

"The Genjutsu's effect has stilled and it's almost worked-out. The poison in his blood isn't completely removed yet and it may never completely go away, but he's no longer life-threatened by it." Iruka took some more deep breaths after telling the jounin this.

"And?"

"And what?"

"And is he going to see again? Can he speak? Can he move his arm? Is the Kyuubi healing him? What about the blood-loss? Are all the after-effects of the concussion taken care of? And there was something with his foot, what's wrong with his foot? Is it fixed yet? Spit it out, Iruka!"

Iruka's eyes went left and right at all the questions as he thought of all the answers.

"Uhhh..." was all he could bring out.

Kakashi sighed with a slight groan and decided to leave the adult Chuunin standing there as he ran upstairs himself. Sakura was standing there, waiting for him with Tsunade by her side.

"Well, well, Kakashi, it appears your son has worked himself into some serious trouble." the blonde Hokage told him seriously.

Kakashi didn't feel the need to react to that. "Where were you? You weren't there these past 14 hours." he scolded.

"Yeah, well, I'm the Hokage Kakashi, I can't fulfill EVERYONE's wishes!" she snapped back, "You should be grateful I canceled an important meeting for this."

"Yes, I'm sorry. Thank you. Now could anyone tell me his situation?" Kakashi tried to collect his serious and uncaring composure but failed horribly.

"His chakra channel has been repaired as best as we could. It appears the chidori has gotten even stronger. This is a new form of the jutsu. Sasuke's lightning has cut certain string-areas in the connection network. He can mold his chakra oncemore, but we couldn't fix the area around his lungs as well as the one around the Kyuubi's dome. We believe that's the Kyuubi's doing, though. He probably tried to fix Naruto's chakra channel himself. He won't be able to breathe easily for a few months, though. Now, his arm has been numbed, but it's no longer broken. He won't be able to use it for about half a year or so, though."

Kakashi sighed in relief. Half a year wasn't so long at all once you thought about it. It would annoy the crap out of Naruto, though, that he was sure of.

"We've treated all the after-effects of his concussion and the Genjutsu won't affect him anymore. But some things have left Naruto with bad... memories. I think some vision's will be repeating themselves in his mind when he's asleep and sometimes even during the day uncontrollably and repeatedly. Now, about the blood-loss, we've found a match for him, so you don't have to worry about that anymore. His ribs have been mended aswell, but only as good as we could. Remember that we're only medical nin, we can't save his lungs and heart whilst operating on his ribs aswell. And his chakra-channel was fragile aswell, we couldn't go near its broken areas. Now about his eye... it's still blinded, but we're guessing it's because of the Genjutsu. It depends on his own strength when the Genjutsu's effects wear off. It could range from 2 months to 2 years, or even more. It's his call. And our medics are doing the best they can about his burn, but we fear it'll leave a lot of scars. Especially around his neck- and chest-area. That's all we can tell you for now."

"And... and his foot?"

"His foot?"

"Yes, sensei, it was immobile 'cos of something in his nerves, but we repaired it with medical ninjutsu."

"Alright, so that's mended. I'd suggest you go home and get some rest, Kakashi, you look awfully worn."

"I want to see him." Kakashi declined.

"I'm afraid I'm not allowing anyone to see him until morning."

"It's 1 A.M. , just let me see him."

"1 am is not 10 am. Come back at 9, I'll see what I can do."

"Seven." Kakashi refused.

"Eight-thirty." Tsunade accepted the challenge.

"Seven-thirty."

"Eight. That's my last offer."

"Seven-forty."

"Eight, Kakashi."

"Seven-forty-five."

Tsunade sighed. "Fine. 7:45. Just make sure he comes at 9 then." Tsunade replied, nodding at Iruka who had only now reached the top of the stairs. Not because he might've gotten tired, but because he probably wanted to give Kakashi some time with the medics. And also... he appeared to have tear-stains on his cheeks.

"Alright." and with that, Kakashi disappeared into a puff of smoke.

 **The next morning at 7:30**

Kakashi stood, waiting outside of Naruto's operation room, peeking in through the window.

"Well, well, impressive."

Kakashi spun around, noticing Tsunade who had walked up on him, holding a cup of tea in left hand and a clipboard with papers attached to it in her right.

"The man who's known to come late all the time shows up early." she sipped at her tea.

"Can I see him now?"

"Our deal was 7:45. You still have 15 more minutes to wait."

"Please, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade sighed. "Alright, fine, you can see him. But only 'cos I like the kid."

"Thank you." he followed her in quickly.

"Naruto, you have a guest."

Naruto's bright blue eyes fluttered open. "Ka..Kashi.." he whispered with a hoarse voice.

"Yeah, it's me." the silverhaired jounin replied, already on his knees with a hand clenched around the boy's blonde locks. "How are you feeling?" he asked, though he already knew the answer was 'horrible'.

"Meh.. you kn..ow.. the..usual.." Naruto had to swallow absurdly much to keep his throat moisturized.

Kakashi faintly smiled half-heartedly, running a finger across the blonde's burnt cheek.

"It l..looks..worse than... it actu..ally is." he told his guardian with a small smile.

"Nah, you barely see it." Kakashi tried to sound reassuring, but he was positive his voice was damp and unconvincing.

"H.. How's.. Iruka...sensei?"

"He's doing as best as he can right now... he hasn't closed an eye this whole time. I'm pretty sure he called in sick at the academy."

"N..no... he sh.. shouldn..'t.."

"You know how Iruka is, Naruto. He wouldn't be pursuaded."

Naruto tried to nod, but shut his eyes in pain as he did so.

"Baka!" Tsunade scolded, fixing one of the needles that had unconnected itself off Naruto's neck.

"Gomen.." Naruto smiled warmly. His eyes turned back to Kakashi's. "S..Sasuke... he looks... good." there was actual happiness in the boy's voice.

"Yes, well, I hope he looks as good as he can right now so I can beat him and hurt him so much you won't be able to recognize him anymore." Kakashi growled.

"No... please don't... sensei..."

"Why not?!"

"Because.." Naruto swallowed painstakingly a few times before continuing. "If it... were me... who did.. this.. to him... you wouldn't.. be as... angry..." the blonde reasoned. And Kakashi had to admit; he had a valid point there.

"But Sasuke's a missing-nin, Naruto. You never abandoned your village and you never backstabbed any of your friends."

"Exactly... friends..." Naruto's look raised to the ceiling. "He's my... friend... and I'll protect... my friends.."

It really pained Kakashi to have to hear this. Sasuke hurt Naruto so badly and yet still the boy wanted to protect him. Wasn't this deed good enough for God to help him? Save him? Fix him? Mend him? Where was God in times like these? And why did such a horrible thing have to happen to such a good person?

"You.. should've seen... me.. though.. sensei..." Naruto smiled at Kakashi. "I was... awesome..."

For the first time in a very long time, Kakashi's eye watered. He didn't cry, but his vision blurred as he ran a hand through the blond mess of spiky hair atop the boy's head.

"I bet you were..." he said softly. "And I'm sorry.. Naruto, I'm so terribly sorry I wasn't there to protect you. I promised you I'd never let any harm come to my teammates... and I failed you... I broke my promise.. and I can't find any way to make it up to you..."

"What?" Naruto's eyes were shocked. "Please, sensei... don't.. apologise.. it wasn't.. your fault... it was... my ch..oice.."

"I'm sorry, Naruto.!" Kakashi rested his head on the side of the teen's bed. "I'm so, so sorry.."

"Sensei.. come on... I didn't.. die or.. anything.."

"I'm so terribly sorry... If there's any way I can make it up to you-"

"You can.. by not.. apologising.. anymore."

Kakashi grabbed one of his son's hands gingerly, absent-mindedly drawing on them with his fingertips. ' I'm sorry ' he wrote on the boy's hand. Then he raised the hand up to his forehead and cupped it in his both hands as he leaned against it.

"Visiting time's over." Tsunade interrupted the brief moment of safety.

"What?" Kakashi head shot up. "I've only been in here for 5 minutes!"

"You've been here for 2 hours, Kakashi. You stole all of Iruka's time."

"What? I did?" he turned around to find Iruka looking through the window, tired stress expressed all across his face.

"Yes. Now we're going to try and see if we can detach him from the machines, so if you'd please get out of our way."

"Yeah, I understand." he turned around one last time, "I'll be back soon, Naruto. I'm right out here, okay?"

 **To be continue..**

 **-R-**

 **Almost gave up and abandoned this fanfic.. but for some reason** **I couldn't do that. So I hope you like it.**

 **G** **ive me your comments, criticisms or suggestions. And I'd love to reply in the next chapter. Thank you.** **Ja Ne!**


	9. I'm sorry (Part 2 end)

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto.** **sultryvoice:** I try to understand with your question but I can't, sorry. But, well anyway I'm glad you like it.

 **Pat123:** Thank you~my mission's success to make you crying. lol Jk

It had been 4 weeks since Naruto had been put into the ICU and it already felt like years to Kakashi. Iruka came to visit every day aswell as him, and friends like Kiba and Shikamaru showed up here and there aswell. Hinata had wanted to come and say hi to him, but the sight of Naruto in his hospital bed had her fleeing from the scene. Sakura had to do a daily check-up on him, so she got to speak with him every morning. And, if Kakashi had to admit, he was jealous of her for that. Whenever he got to see Naruto, the teen was mostly asleep or half-sleeping. And the more time spent there and the longer this all stretched on, the older man could see the life draining from the young shinobi's face. He had gotten awfully skinny, being fed through needles from liquid bags and being out of training for quite some time.

Tenzou dropped by yesterday with a little bag of instant-ramen and a card from mr. Ichiraku and his daughter, Ayame. The doctors told him the blond couldn't have any of the ramen though and it hurt the brunet man to see the sadness in Naruto's eyes. Not only having to live without the stuff for so long, but then having a bag of it hovering over his face before being denied of having it was like asking for trouble. But the blond couldn't move anyway. Tsunade had numbed his body with a special technique 'cos she knew he wouldn't get any rest if she didn't. The teen was just all too eager to resume his training again.

And this is where everyone expected Kakashi to step in. To look him in the eye and tell him flat-out "No". But how could the man? He wished he could say, "Sure, Naruto, just get better quickly so you don't get out of shape." but he couldn't. All he could do was watch. And when everyone looked at him expectantly, his eyes glazed over to those of his adopted son's and he murmured something of, "Maybe in a month or so."

And this was actually bad enough to Tsunade. She couldn't make any promises. She could try her best and do what was in her power to do, but no more than that. And it wasn't like she didn't care and didn't push herself any harder to mend this boy than the others, 'cos she did, and she shouldn't. But still, she held a soft spot for the hyper blond which she couldn't deny. But, the thing is, Tsunade firmly believed that Naruto would make himself better. He didn't need medical ninjutsu to heal him. Something gnawed at the back of her mind though that he may not be able to move his right arm again though, nor see through his right eye. But everything was forgotten with the next cry.

"Tsunade-sama!!" Sakura ran over to her superior and mentor.

"What is it, Sakura?" the blonde woman asked sternly.

"It's a miracle! Naruto can see through his right eye again!"

"That must mean the Genjutsu's effect has worn off... Thank the Gods for giving that boy the mentality to never give up." she said more to herself than Sakura. A smile crept up to her face when she realised she'd be passing on the good news to Kakashi and Iruka soon.

"What?!"

"Really?!"

Two men standing by the coffeemachine forgot all about the caffeïne-rich brew and made their way upstairs as fast as they could.

The door to Naruto's room thrust open and his name was spoken by both males at the same time.

A grin planted itself on Naruto's soft pink lips as he looked at his teachers through both eyes again.

"Is it true? Can you see through your right eye again?!" Iruka said hurriedly.

"You bet it's true!" Naruto's usually vibrant voice was back to normal again, only it was a little raw since it hadn't been used in such a long time.

"Thank God!" Iruka cried, embracing the blond tightly.

"Ouch, Iruka-sensei.. I can see but you're still sorta' hurting me." the teen laughed.

"Oh, right, sorry." Iruka let go immediatly.

Kakashi watched from the sidelines, feeling something bright and warm in the pit of his stomach. Sunrays suddenly filed in through the curtains and for some reason, he felt like everything would be okay again.

"Now I just need to move my arm again and we can get straight back to training!" the blond cheered.

"Woah, slow down punk." Iruka smiled, "One step at a time, alright. How 'bout you use that eye of yours to read up on some ninjutsu instead?"

"Whaaaaat?! Naaaaaahh!"

The room filled with a chorus of laughter from friends, doctors and nurses alike.

 **1** **month later**

The blond whiskered blue-eyed male made his way out of the hospital with walking-crooks. He insisted that he didn't need a wheelchair and that he was all ready to go home already. He'd gotten sick and tired of the bland white rooms. His arm was no longer broken, but still extremely fragile and painful to move around. His breathing would stay normal just as long as he didn't overdo himself.

Kakashi was walking beside him, reading a plastified prescription paper from Lady Tsunade herself. "You know," the jounin started suddenly, "it says here you're not allowed to have any more than light meals like salads and stuff for over a week or so."

Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "WHAT?!" he screamed. "That's impossible!! I've been in the hospital for weeks on end without ramen and she wants me to eat WEEDS?!!"

Kakashi chuckled, "It says it right here." he told the blond, tapping the Hokage's words.

"No way! Let me see!" Naruto clacked his crooks on the soil beneath them quickly and hopped over to the jounin. He pushed his face up to the plastified paper and scanned it for any sign of evidence to such ridiculous terms. But Kakashi was right, and it was indeed, right on top on the paper.

"And you're not allowed to do any intensive training for 3 weeks or so. And since it's you, Tsunade's even added a word of advice herself. Something along the words of "the rasen-shuriken is also intensive training" or something."

Naruto groaned and grumbled furious insults under his breath.

"Maa, it's only for a few weeks." Kakashi tried to cheer him up, smiling upside-down U's. Although he might not show it, he was just extremely grateful the teen was alive.

"That's what you 4 weeks ago when you visited, too."

"You counted?"

"Well it wasn't that hard to count since you came like every day."

"Hehe.." Kakashi smiled a guilty and busted-like smile.

"And if that wasn't bad enough, you just had to bring along Faw!"

"Ah yes." the older man with silver hair smiled at the 'good old days'. The orange stuffed animal fox was currently tucked underneath his arm and Naruto eyed it angrily. Faw was given his obscure name the first try Naruto pronounced the word "fox". They were on their way to the mission room when Naruto saw the window of a big toystore. There were various items stocked neatly infront of the window, eventhough all the colors boomed with messiness and excitement. The perfect store for a child, you could say. From huge bears to tiny cats, the shop had them all. But Naruto's eyes fell upon the soft orange fox stored somewhere squashed underneath one of the bears' legs. "Faw." the boy had said, prodding a little finger against the window. "Hmm?" Kakashi quirked an eyebrow and looked up from his novel. "Faw." the boy repeated, turning around and giving his guardian a questioning look. He'd never gotten anything from the man yet, so Kakashi knew the boy wasn't asking for him to buy stuff. Especially not since the blond was only taken in by Kakashi about a week ago. "Faw!" the child smiled a bright beam. "Huh? Fox?" Kakashi asked. The blond's face cleared up as though he were praising Kakashi for getting it. "Faw!" he chirped happily. "You want Faw? Alright, if you say so." and Kakashi guided the kid inside...

"Where on earth did you get a thing like that, anyway?" Naruto's eyes were still on the mid-sized animal underneath the jounin's arm. One of its ears appeared to be chewed off and the color had worn off long ago. The soft fur it once owned was now ragged and scruffy. You could tell it had been drooled on for years on end and dragged along by its tail to all sorts of places. It even had a ramen-stain on one of its paws, which indicated it had joined at the table or perhaps even the ramen-stand.

"You were the one who found it." Kakashi replied, his eyes back on the paper.

"I wanted a thing like that?"

"Well back then it was in way better condition, ofcourse. And you might not want it anymore now, but back then you'd fight with every tooth you had just so it could eat dinner with you. And don't get me started on the arguments we had about bathing with Faw. I mean, you're pretty thick right now, but back then it just wouldn't get into your head that stuffed animals are not supposed to get wet. But, being that type of stubborn kid, in the end, you got what you wanted."

Naruto eyed the animal suspiciously. "So that's how it got all ragged."

"Yah.. as I said, stubborn kid."

Naruto flushed and laughed sheepishly, now his turn to feel embaressed. "Still, I don't see the point of bringing him along." the teen insisted.

"Well, I just figured you might like the company."

"Company? You were pretty much there 24/7. And if you weren't, Iruka-sensei was there. And if I'd EVER be "alone", nurses and doctors would be walking in and out of my room or Sakura-chan would come and visit me. Point is, I just couldn't be left alone."

"I take it it hasn't been that enjoyable."

"O'course not. It sucks. I hate being stuck like that."

"Well then I suggest you get ready for more suckiness 'cos you're gonna' be stuck at home for another two weeks, it seems."

"What?!"

"Says it right here, two weeks of bedrest before you're allowed out."

"Ooohh.. it just says it there. Hehe, thank God Tsunade doesn't get out very often. That would've really sucked."

Kakashi glanced at him with a look Naruto knew all too well.

"Wh-what? Y-you're not gonna'... Oh COME ON, KAKASHI! I deserve to go outside and get some fresh air! Isn't that healthy?!"

"I'm sure it is, but we're outside right now, so enjoy it while you can."

"You never made such a big deal out of these things before!" Naruto sputtered.

"Well back then it wasn't as serious as now."

"What's serious about a broken arm? Or that thing going on with my leg. Whatever it is. Point is, I feel perfectly fine!"

"You don't even know everything yourself yet. How can you even suggest getting out and about when you don't know what's going on with your own body? You could barely breathe only weeks ago. You were blind through one eye for a week and you couldn't move at all. Do you honestly think I'd just let you go on missions and stuff like that when you only just got out of the hospital? Come on, use your common sense."

The jinchuuriki fumed and grumbled things under his breath again. After a few more minutes he stopped though, understanding Kakashi's point of view. This didn't mean he liked it, though. He didn't think it was fair at all. He just understood it. And he knew that once he understood it, he'd have to go with it aswell. Which meant no getting out for two whole weeks. Oh crud.

~*~*~ At home ~*~*~

Naruto placed his crooks against the back of the couch and sat down, letting out a content sigh when the strain was off of his leg. His muscles still felt quite tight, so in a way he figured it may be good to get some rest before training again. But he knew himself better than any other, and was certain that once his body felt stronger, he'd be getting back to training, no matter what anyone says.

"Says here you've gotta' take these pills four times a day."

"What? Four times?!" Naruto asked, shocked.

Kakashi placed a little red tub on the livingroomtable. "Once in the morning, once in the midday, another time around 5 o'clock, and one more before you go to sleep. Tsunade also recommends getting as much sleep as possible, but I ain't gonna' force ya'."

Naruto slumped back on the couch, feeling trapped already. He was bored out of his skull only less than a minute after arriving here, and eyed the lightgreen pill Kakashi held out to him. After a couple of seconds he took it and swallowed it dry.

"What's it for, anyway?"

"Should be some kind of special pill by Tsunade-sama herself. It's got something to do with your immune system, though it should be something special since you can get normal pills everywhere."

"... You don't know what it is, do you?"

"Yah.."

Naruto grinned at his guardian, who appeared embaressed again, and felt like he'd broken a record or something. Heck it isn't every day Kakashi's embaressed. And especially not twice in the same day!

"Anyway, I think I'll go and check out the new teams they're assigning the jounin to. See ya'." and with that, Kakashi left.

Very strange, seeing as the man wouldn't leave Naruto's side before.

But Naruto didn't think much of it and once he was certain his guardian was gone, he grabbed his crooks and headed outside to the garden to train. He wasn't going to start with anything too rough, since he knew aswell that it wouldn't be safe if he did, so he decided to train on his sannin techniques. The ability to remain exactly still was extremely hard, indeed. And if he had to do it without toad oil, it was even harder. But he wanted to grasp it himself and learn how to do it as fast as possible. Which is why, if he had trained inside, it would've been too easy. Outside there were more things to distract him, which was exactly what he needed.

But it wasn't long after he seated himself in the soft grass and positioned himself for his practice, that a certain man with gravity-opposing silver hair had appeared infront of him, clicking his tongue and shaking his head disapprovingly.

Naruto fell backwards, shocked, and looked up at the man towering over him.

"And I thought you understood the words "No training"." the jounin said.

"This isn't training! This is practice! What's the difference between sitting inside and not moving or sitting outside and not moving?"

"Hmm, I dunno', perhaps taking in nature chakra and fusing it with your own? I don't know if you've noticed, Naruto, but your chakra-channel is nearly shattered."

"So?"

"So it needs time to heal. These things normally don't heal, Naruto. If it weren't for the Kyuubi, you wouldn't have been able to summon chakra at all!"

"So I guess I'll have to thank him when I see him next time." the blond shrugged.

The former-ANBU sighed. "Just get back inside."

"Tsk. Fine."

 **10 minutes later**

"Alright, now I'm seriously gonna' go check out my new team 'cos they're probably sick of waiting on me and being hormonal brats, I'm sure they're not too happy. You stay inside and yet again, I'll repeat it nice and clear for you, NO TRAINING. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." the blond muttered.

"Alright. See ya'." and the jounin was off oncemore.

This time, Naruto waited 15 minutes after the man left to position himself on the couch and keep himself as still as possible with shut eyes. He knew the feeling of rubbing nature and human chakra together, and was sure he had it going pretty well, but once he was at the verge of summoning nature chakra, something poked him on his forehead extremely sharply and before he could react, ninja wires strapped him in a lying position to the couch.

The boy's guardian sighed oncemore and massaged his forehead. "I swear you're annoying." the man said.

"Hey! It isn't my fault you entertain yourself by observing me! What happened to the new Genin?!"

"There are no new Genin, Naruto." the jounin sighed.

"What?!"

"I lied to see what you would do once I left the house. And man I must say you really don't give up, do you?"

"What're you trying to get at?!"

"Heh... If only you were as stubborn to get healthy so I could teach you a new technique as you are to train on your own and endanger yourself 'cos your body's pretty much broken."

"Huh? Whattaya' mean?! And what's the new technique?!"

"Well, if you'd just follow the rules on the paper Tsunade gave us, I'll teach you a really cool jutsu when you've completed them all."

"This sounds like some sick game."

"Well I guess you could see it as a game. But it's more of a challenge." Kakashi knew the word 'challenge' would have a nice ring to Naruto's ears.

"A challenge, eh?" the blond asked, and underneath the jounin's mask a smirk was concealed. "Alright, I'm in! But it'd better be a really cool jutsu!"

"Oh I assure you, it's very cool."

"Fine."

"Here, Faw will keep you company as I go and deliver this mission report." Kakashi tossed the stuffed animal onto the couch.

"Oh, Kakashi, before you go, how 'bout cutting the nin-wire?" Naruto smiled eventhough his eyes were pleading.

"Hmm... Nah. Can't risk it now, can I? That'd be cheating on your end, and I'm sure you wanna' learn that cool jutsu." and with that, the man disappeared into a puff of smoke.

"Goddamn that man!" the blond grumbled.

 **3 hours later**

"I see you're still here." Kakashi commented as he walked in.

"And it's your fault." the teen snarled.

"Aw, come on, don't be all angsty 'cos you had to do nothing for a while."

"I had to use the bathroom goddamnit!"

"Please tell me you didn't-"

"NO OFCOURSE NOT YOU SICK-O! JUST UNTIE THE FRIGGIN' ROPE ALREADY!!"

"Yeah, yeah, calm down." the man lazily pulled out a kunai and broke the nin-wire in one fast snap.

The overly-powerful Genin grabbed his crooks and hurried off toward the washroom while Kakashi headed to the kitchen, well aware that it was the time of the day Naruto would scarf down 10 bowls of ramen in less than an hour.

When the teen returned, a bowl of salad had been placed on the bar seperating the kitchen from the livingroom. Naruto eyed the vegetable-containing object, wondering why his guardian felt like pulling out grass and stuff in their garden and dumping them in a bowl. And not just that, the man had presented it on the bar table with a pair of chopsticks aswell. What the heck was that about?

"Uhh, Kakashi-sensei, why did you go to the garden and put your findings in my ramen-bowl?" Naruto asked, afraid that his treasured cow-print decorated bowl might turn green or something.

"That's salad Naruto. I'm sure you've heard of it before."

"Looks like weeds and grass to me."

"It's got tomatoes." the jounin disaggreed.

"And other green stuff." the blue-eyed boy poked the vegetable.

"That's called cucumber."

"And what's that orange? Surely it isn't frozen ramen-flavouring."

"They're carrot slices."

"..Really?" the boy asked sceptically as though he were a detective.

"Really." Kakashi repeated, only in a declaring and a "you're-insane" kind of way.

"Where'd you get all this?"

"The supermarket."

"Really...?"

"Really, now eat up."

"Uhm, I think I hear Sakura-chan calling m-"

But before Naruto could run off, he got tugged back by the collar of his orange and black jacket and pulled down onto one of the barstools.

"Uh, I'm really not hungry." but Naruto's stomach had betrayed him when it grumbled loudly.

"Yeah, that totally sounds like you aren't hungry. Just eat the weeds and I'll let you be, 'kay?"

"Ugh... fine."

Later on _

The older man with silver hair stared down at the blond with the orange fox strapped underneath his arm and pressed tightly against his chest. Memories infiltrated his mind as the boy's steady breathing moved Faw up and down slowly.

The silverhaired jounin was busy ironing one of his black jounin sweaters as a little blond child with whiskermarks entertained himself with a summoning scroll he actually didn't understand one single word of. The kid fumbled with his hands, trying to make symbols of them. After a while, though, he gave up and picked up the fluffy cuddlefox sitting beside him. He walked over to Kakashi and sat himself down against next to the jounin's feet. The boy stared up at what the man was doing silently as his right arm clumsily patted Faw and twirled around the animal's tail.

The older man looked down at the blue-eyed boy, wondering what the kid needed. The child never really asked for anything, and Kakashi never knew what was on his mind. Naruto was a very easy kid to deal with, only it would've been helpful if he just spoke up a little more often.

The whiskered child blinked and stared at his guardian with a questioning and rather expectant look on his face. The jounin stuck out his arm and, as always, the blond climbed up on his guardian's arm and continued until both his tiny hands were on one of the man's shoulders, the rest of his little body hanging down along the jounin's back. His big blue eyes followed the movement of the iron like a cat lurking its prey. His little arms suddenly let go and lurched forwards toward the steamy hot iron. Kakashi quickly grabbed him though, holding him back.

"No, Naru-chan, that's really hot."

The boy retried to reach the iron, stretching out his little arm as far as it would go.

"No kid, that's ouch." Kakashi pulled Naruto's hand back gently but quickly.

The blond pouted, wondering why he wasn't allowed to touch the magic object with powdery steam. It almost seemed like a miracle to the kid how the white fluffy clouds could be produced from a simple thing like that.

And it seemed only fair that he got to reveal the secret to this magic trick. It wouldn't be the first time Kakashi showed him a new magic jutsu and he had to figure it out. So why not now? What was the big deal? He stretched his arm out oncemore, almost connecting his little fingers to the hot metal coat on the iron when they suddenly got snagged back swiftly by his guardian. It irritated Kakashi that the boy wouldn't understand, but it irritated Naruto even more how he didn't get to reveal the mystery's secret.

"That's ouch, Naru, it's too hot." the silverhaired man tried oncemore.

"Ouch.." said child repeated.

"Yes, ouch. Very, very ouch."

"Very ouch!" Naruto repeated, proud of himself that he could follow the jounin's words. He clapped his hands together for himself proudly, smiling broadly as he giggled.

"Yeah, good job. Now why don't you go back to the scroll you were.. uhm.. studying?"

Naruto stuck his little hand forwards toward Kakashi's face as though he were trying to stop him. He closed his eyes and appeared to be deep in thought. He furrowed his brows together like a professor would, and said very strictly, "Down." This way it would seem like it was his idea and not the jounin's. The man only laughed though and set the kid down, ruffling his hair a little before continuing his work.

After he was done, he pulled the iron out of the plug and let it cool off before he would put it away again. It was about 4 o'clock, which meant he had a heck alot of trouble to deal with, trying to force the blue-eyed boy to take a nap. The kid would usually hide himself somewhere to try and avoid being put into bed, but somehow the ex-ANBU always managed to find him... Could it be the muffled giggles? Nah...

"Come on, Naru, time for a break."

The blond squeeked and hid behind the couch. His guardian smirked behind his mask and took his time in walking over to the couch to give the kid some more time. When he peeked behind the sofa, the boy was gone and replaced by Faw. He stood up again, about to turn around when he could suddenly hear a very high-pitched yelp. His visible eye spread open wide when the worst-case-scenario entered his mind, and he searched helplessly for the boy. When it all became too obvious to him, he turned toward the ironing-board and saw his adopted boy sitting ontop of it, fingers popped into his mouth as he tried to cool them off. Tears were clear in the child's eyes, but he didn't cry. Instead, he gave the iron an angry glare and shook his hand quickly, revealing bright red burns.

Kakashi shook his head with a sigh and picked the child up off of the ironing board. "See?" the man said, "I told you it was hot."

Naruto looked from the burns on his fingers to the man and back. "Ouch.." he said then, innocent blue eyes locking on one single dark brown one.

"Yeah, ouch." Kakashi nodded, thankful for his mask since he'd been smiling. "Listen to daddy, good. Ignore daddy, bad."

"Ig... Igno...Ignowe..." the blond tried. He barely ever spoke, so he still couldn't pronounce the "r" right.

"Nono, listen. Li-sten."

"Ignowe." the boy stubbornly refused.

"Li-sten."

"Lisnowe."

"Listen."

"Ignesten."

"Ignesten?"

"Ignesten!" the child cheered, clapping his hands together again, laughing brightly. When he realised it hurt to clap, though, he stopped immediatly and looked up at his guardian, expecting him to have some kind of magic trick that could make the pain go away.

Kakashi sighed as he put the child in bed. "Here, see? Band-aid. Makes ouch go away." he whispered as he wrapped the blue band-aids around the child's fingers. They had little dino's decorated over them, catching the boy's interest.

"Rawr!" he growled, seriously sounding scary to Kakashi. Something deep inside the child's chest growled as the boy fake-growled. "Rawrawraw!" he grinned at his band-aids, revealing huge canines.

"Yeah, yeah, lil' dino, how 'bout you go to sleep?"

"Nmm.." the boy mulled over the man's request, but eventually decided he should get some rest. He'd gotten tired from learning all those new words. Kakashi sat in the chair in the corner, makinng sure the Kyuubi didn't take control or anything. Well, it wasn't the most fun he could have had in years, but it most certainly was enjoyable to listen to the child murmur about things happening in his dreams. And the word "listen" had been repeated several times aswell. Yes, this child appeared extremely promising, indeed.

"N..no... Sa...suke...don't...go...please..."

Kakashi's attention shot back to the 16-year-old boy on the couch. The teen was murmuring to himself, pressing Faw tighter against his chest with every word.

"I..can't...handle.. any more... losses..."

The silverhaired jounin stood up and was at the boy's side in less than a second.

"First...you...then...pervy..sage..."

Kakashi knealed down beside the sofa and put a hand on the boy's forehead.

"I can't... do this... anymore.."

Naruto's voice sounded so terribly pained. It hurt Kakashi to have to listen to it. He hated the way Sasuke was the only person that actually meant the world to his son. He hated the way the raven couldn't just leave Naruto alone. He shouldn't have messed with Naruto's mind. He should've just left the village from the start! No.. he couldn't think like that. Kakashi should've been there to stop Sasuke. He should've noticed the change in Sasuke's personality. But man it was so hard reading a boy who wouldn't let anybody in. But it appeared he had let a certain someone in. And that certain someone just had to be the only person Kakashi had let in aswell.

"Goddamn you, Sasuke." Kakashi grumbled, trying to shake the blond teen out of his dreams.

"Come on, Naruto, wake up, you're having

nightmare." he told the Genin softly, nudging the teen's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Naruto's eyes fluttered open softly. "What? Oh, hey, Kakashi. What's up?"

"Nothing. You had a nightmare, that's all."

"Am I better yet?" Naruto grinned.

"Nope." his guardian replied, granting the boy a small smile underneath his mask. "Just 13 more days."

Naruto yawned. "What time is it?" he asked.

"2 A.M. or so. I suggest you get some more sleep."

"Well, it's all I'll be getting for a long, long, time anyway."

"Mm.."

Naruto could tell there was something seriously troubling the jounin, but he couldn't tell what. Was it his nightmare? Was he murmuring in his sleep again? God he hated it when Kakashi heard whatever he was dreaming about. He himself never remembered any of it, but Kakashi really enjoyed teasing him and reminding him of all the little bits and details of his dreams over breakfast. Though half the time Naruto didn't believe him, the guy could sound so persuasive and honest that it almost seemed natural for whatever to come out of his mouth to be true. Almost as if he was a born sweet-talker. Though Naruto refused to believe he was gullible or sweet-talkable. He'd gotten a sweet-talk-proof vest the day Kakashi adopted him. Though he barely remembered those days; he'd been so young. But certain details of that day always continued to linger in his mind. He enjoyed dreaming about that day, too, he'd noticed. And the silverhaired man noticed it aswell. He'd reminded Naruto of the fact that he enjoyed to enlighten Kakashi with all the joys of his life whenever he slept. The teen would get angry and start shouting at him for listening in on his dreams whenever he was asleep, but he couldn't really blame him for doing it. Since apparently, he liked to raise his voice when sleeping. And Kakashi, with his trained hearing, couldn't really help but listen in on the conversations the boy would have with himself.

In any case, Naruto knew there was something seriously bothering the man. And he chose to find out what it was. He would fix whatever was on the poor man's mind.

 **Give me your comments, criticisms or suggestions. And I'd love to reply in the next chapter. Thank you.** **Ja Ne!**


	10. Sweet Revenge

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto.**

 **kyuzi4869:** Thank you, I will do my best. :)

 **Pat124:** I love it too lol Thank you for taking the time to comment.

 **Huntress9894:** Thank you :) Of course, you can see how angry Kakashi towards Sasuke after what he done to his son?

 **sultryvoice:** Ah, I get it now and It still the same lol. Don't worry, It's still continues.

 **Aprilia Echizen:** Thank you~ :)

Naruto awoke to the bright sunrays shining elegantly through the open window. The light revealed little pieces of dancing dust floating in open space. The sunshine appeared to be playing with the collectables, doing the walse with them. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Up, down, left. Up, down, right. Up, down, left.

Naruto's bright blue orbs followed them, joining in on the dance. And just when he was about to get up slowly, he could hear the clanging of kunai, the zipping of zippers, the zinging of ninja wire, the folding of scrolls, and the clattering of shuriken.

"Oh, you're awake." he heard Kakashi say as the man entered the livingroom.

"Yes, well, I barely get to sleep at all on the couch."

"You? You can sleep anywhere." the jounin disagreed as he pulled out a kunai and cut the wires binding the blonde to the couch.

"True. So where're you going?" Innocent blue riverorbs glanced up to meet a coal grey one.

"Hmm? Me? A mission."

"Tsunade-baa-chan told me you wouldn't have any missions this week." Naruto replied matter-of-factly. He knew the older man was up to something.

"Really? Well, I have one." Kakashi didn't appear all that intimidated or nervous at all. "Want some breakfast before I go?"

"Nah, that's fine. I'm not really into anything that isn't ramen. So where're you going?"

"How 'bout something that's similar to ramen? Want some soup?"

"No, that's alright. So where d'you have to go for your mission?"

"You sure? You'd better eat if you wanna' get better."

"Yeah, I'm sure, now could you please answer me?"

"You really should have at least some soup, Naruto."

"Just answer me!" the blonde demanded.

"Wow, calm down. I'm going to Sunagakure. But before I do, I'll fix you up some soup, 'kay?"

Naruto sighed and burried his right eye in his palm. "So what're you gonna' do? Do they need your help with something or..?"

"Yeah, something like that. A group of rogue ninja have been spotted on one of their towers. It could be unimportant, but if it's something big, they requested the best of ninja to help out."

"And of course they need you?"

"Well, yeah, I'm one of the best ninja there are, right?" Kakashi winked his only visible eye as he poured some soup into a bowl.

"Riiight..." his adoptive son replied, getting up and bringing his crooks over to the stairs.

"And where're you going?" the jounin asked.

"I'm gonna' get myself ready. I'm coming with you."

"Oh no you aren't!" Kakashi refused, infront of the boy in a mere matter of seconds.

"Why not?!"

"'Cos you require at least 2 weeks of bedrest, you only just got out of the hospital, and it takes 3 days to travel to Suna. If you come with me, it'll take a week only to get there. What do you think you can do in the condition you're in, anyway?"

"I can help! I'm strong enough! I have the Kyuubi, remember? He's been healing me the whole time!"

"Not anymore. The Kyuubi won't help you much, Naruto. It's doing the best it can, and you can tell that even that is going to take some time."

"I don't care!! I'm coming with you!!"

"You're staying here and that's final!" the former-ANBU shinobi ordered.

"It's not final! I'm 16! I can decide these things on my own!"

"Clearly, you're too immature to decide these things on your own, so no, you can't!"

"I SO can too! And you're not stopping me!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

But Naruto's words didn't meet his expectations and in less than a second he was on the couch again, Kakashi's hands pushing him against the backrest. The older man's dark eye locked onto the teen's bright blue ones as he strictly said, "You're staying here."

"Make me." Naruto growled back.

"I swear to God, Naruto, if you follow me, you can forget learning new jutsu or even going on MISSIONS, yes?!"

"You can't do that." Naruto smirked.

"You think I can't?" Kakashi raised a brow. "I'm pretty sure Tsunade understands me when I say you're in no condition to go on any more missions."

"Not forever, I won't be. And Baa-chan likes me."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure she'll trust me when I say you're not doing too well and you're just too hotheaded about going on missions and training to admit it."

"You wouldn't!"

"If you follow me, I will."

"If you do, I'll.. I'll-"

"You'll what?"

"I'll burn every one of your icha icha books and hide ero-sennin's stash!"

"So? Bookstores exist, you know."

"Ever since Ero-sennin passed away they're not selling them anymore. You do know the only reason people sold his books was because he threatened to use violence if they didn't, right? Nobody reads those damn books besides you."

"God damn you, kid."

"Hehe." Naruto smirked.

"If you burn my books you'll never SEE another bowl of ramen again!"

"Restaurants exist you know."

"And daughters of restaurant-owners that are madly in love with me exist, too."

"Crap! Damn it, Kakashi! Just let me go!"

"Not a chance in hell. Now sit quietly and I might consider having Tsunade-sama giving you a D-rank mission."

Naruto folded his arms and pouted as Kakashi straightened himself out and bent down infront of him. The older man ruffled through the blue-eyed blonde's locks and reassured him, "Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

"Whatever." Naruto's eyes looked the other way as Kakashi got up and left.

"Jaa ne!"

"Pfft."

 **15 minutes later**

"Screw this crap!" Naruto grumbled and got up. His shuriken-holster was around his leg and his kunai-pouch was around his waist in a flash. Birds flew away as he smacked the door shut.

-R-

"What mission? I didn't assign him to any missions. He's free this week." Tsunade assured Naruto.

"I knew it!"

"W-wait! Where're you going?! You're in no condition to-"

But the door to her office was already shut and the blonde had already reached Konoha's main gates.

-R-

It wasn't that hard for Naruto to tail Kakashi. Especially since he noticed Pakkun was traveling alongside the man and had left pawtrails in the damp soil. Kakashi probably didn't feel the need to conseal the pawprints since he was sure Naruto wouldn't follow him. But there wasn't a chance in hell the teen would let his guardian go off to wherever he was going when he could clearly see there was something wrong.

 **20 minutes later**

"I knew he wasn't going to Suna!" Naruto pounded his palm with his fist. "He's tracking someone! But who? Who could he possible be tracking? He didn't get a mission, so it isn't anybody we don't know. And it's not some girl, 'cos Kakashi's not like that. There's no relatives of his that I don't know about that are still alive, so... someone that doesn't have much to do with him? No, the person must have some kind of bond with him, else the ol' man wouldn't bother tracking him or her. But Kakashi seemed kind of angry the past few days. So is he angry at the person he's tracking down? It all started on the day I got taken into the hospital, too. So... it has to do with me. And he's angry at someone about it. Somebody we both know quite well, but isn't a relative. And it has to do with me being in the hospital..."

It was all too clear to Naruto. He cursed himself for not realising it before.

"Sasuke!"

 **Meanwhile**

"Are you sure you recognised his scent around this area, Pakkun?"

"Yes. I'm positive. When you sent us out to find Sasuke two weeks ago, we searched the whole area around the outskirts of Konoha, connecting Fire Country with the other countries. He was found on the way to Amegakure. I don't confuse smells like his."

"Alright. Bring me to him."

"You'd better be careful, though. There's nobody with him right now, but that's probably because he's gotten stronger and doesn't need anybody to travel with him anymore."

"He's just cocky. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Alright."

-R-

There he is! I've finally found you, Kakashi! Naruto hid behind a thick tree, totally unaware of the fact that a pair of ruby eyes with black shapes were watching him.

You liar! You said you'd be going to Suna! But I caught you, you sneak!

It had gotten relatively colder compared to Konoha, but even the Fire Country had cooled down, aswell. The sun might still shine, but it was freaking cold in Konohagakure. Snow had been forecasted, but so far nobody's seen any yet. Makes you wanna' get a pitchfork or a torch and chase the weatherman around after being fooled into getting your sled and skis.

You're not getting away this time Naruto thought, grinning. He turned around, but the breath was knocked out of him when he noticed a pair of Sharingan eyes at a one-foot distance away from him. A hand grabbed his arm and pushed it against the treebark behind him.

"You never give up, do you?" Sasuke asked, sighing.

"Sasuke." Naruto replied, seriously.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but was suddenly hit against another tree a few meters away, causing the treebark to crack and fall off. The raven whiped some blood away from the corner of his mouth, smirking. "And I see you brought company."

"Get your hands off my son." Kakashi snarled.

"That's a first." Sasuke commented. "You always used to refuse calling him "son" whenever we were around."

Kakashi ignored him, turning around to face Naruto. "I told you to stay HOME." he told the teen strictly.

"Yeah, well, you lied."

"I lied 'cos I knew you'd follow me if I didn't."

"Turns out I followed you either way."

"'Cos you're stubborn and you're a fool."

"Well you should've told me the truth!"

"You would've followed me."

"That's inevitable, so you should've just told me."

"You're so never having ramen again in your entire life."

"I don't care." Naruto smirked.

This shocked Kakashi. Normally the teen would pout or cry some kind of comeback. This time, though, he kept still and serious. There was no change in the boy's facial expression besides the smirk and the self-assured glint in his eyes. There was no way he was going to lose to Sasuke again.

But Sasuke already drew his blade. "I'm not letting you hit me again." his monotonous voice stated.

Kakashi snorted and rolled his eyes. "Save it for those who believe you still." and turned around. He raised a kunai to about neck-level and held out an arm infront of Naruto. "You're injured. You're not moving an inch from this spot."

"What are you talking about, Kakashi? You need me." the teen refused. The fact that he didn't go all out and yell something like, "WHAT?! THAT'S SO UNFAIR!" was just another piece of evidence that Sasuke changed the boy completely.

"Don't interfere." Kakashi replied, gravely. His voice was harsh, indicating he was serious.

But Naruto couldn't care less if the man was serious or not. "This isn't your fight, sensei. This is between him and me."

"It became mine and his fight the moment he injured you!" the jounin hissed. There was clear anger in his voice. Anger directed toward Sasuke.

"So stay out of it I tell you!"

Naruto's bright blue eyes widened to that sentance. He never thought he'd hear it coming out of Kakashi's mouth. He always thought that was his line. Not Kakashi's. Why was the man acting this way? Why was he so angry at Sasuke? It wouldn't be the first time they fought eachother and one of them got hurt. Or both of them got hurt. Why was sensei so serious this time?

"I can't..." the ex-ANBU suddenly started. He looked down at the wood underneath his feet, trying to find the right words to say. "I can't go through that again.. I can't sit back and hope for the best... I can't pray and wish things will get better again... I'm not going to anymore. Not again. It ends here, Sasuke. You're not laying another hand on those important to me."

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke replied, boredly. "What exactly do you think he feels about that? He's been chasing me all his life. His ultimate goal is bringing me back to the village. He's always trying to be as good as me, to catch up to me. He thinks of me as a brother. You call him son, has he ever called you dad?"

That was true. Naruto barely ever called Kakashi 'dad'. But that's because he wasn't really his father. Naruto knew this already the day the man had adopted him. Not because he knew what 'being born' meant, he was still too young for that. He just knew that whatever everyone else had, those people called "parents", wasn't something he had.

"Soon you won't have anything to do with him anymore." Kakashi weaved some hand-signs. "You'll be dead and people will be happy again. You make people miserable, Sasuke."

Naruto couldn't follow anymore. He couldn't believe his ears. Was this really true? Did Sasuke really know that much about him? Did Kakashi really care that much about him? Did Kakashi truly want to kill his raven friend? Did Sasuke actually talk about him like a brother? Things went too fast.

Within seconds, clangs of metal against metal, the squirting of blood, the panting, the weaving of symbols, the fire-jutsu's, the crackling of chidori and lightning-blade, the rolling of waterdragons, the cracking of earth splitting underneath feet, the curses, the jutsu, the scrolls, the shuriken, the hurt, the pain, the blood, the maniacal laughs and mental slips, the battlecries and cries of pain, were heard.

Naruto really wanted to join in on the fight. He really did. But he just wasn't used to Kakashi not leaving an opening for him. Usually, the man would allow the blonde to fight alongside him. He'd leave open holes for Naruto to attack with his Rasengan. Now the jounin didn't leave the teen any time to attack. He couldn't even attack from the back. But Sasuke would've noticed it anyway, and countered it.

But he got drawn into the battle soon enough. Be it on his will or not, he got in. Sasuke had appeared behind him, holding his katana against his throat.

"Where's that amazing power of yours now, Naruto?" the raven taunted him. "Why don't you call upon the Kyuubi again, like last time? Realised that I'm too strong for you to beat at last? How displeasing..."

Who was this person? This certainly wasn't the Sasuke Naruto had known for so long.

"Finally realised.. you're mine?" the teen Naruto had considered "brother" for so long said calmly, yet with a slight thrill to his voice. He wrapped a hand around his neck, leaving enough space for the katana underneath his hand, which meant he had to raise Naruto's face so the boy would be looking upwards.

"It's incredible, really.. that you're so thick and good-willed to believe.. you could change me."

Kakashi visible eye opened wide with shock.

"For you see, Naruto... I have more power than you do.. I can do whatever I please with you."

A trail of blood trickled down Naruto's neck and made its way down the blonde's chest.

"Because I'm better than you." the older of the two males whispered into Naruto's ear, dangerously.

More blood started to ooze out of the fresh cut Sasuke had made in Naruto's neck, turning the color of the boy's top a deep crimson red.

"And you'll never surpass me."

But before the raven could do any more, he got blown away from the impact of a fire-jutsu, then attacked with a new thunderous lightning blade, followed by a wave of water and ice, only to be bitten by 8 ninja hounds, continuing with a Genjutsu, only to end with the connection of 4 knuckles and Sasuke's cheek.

Naruto had crashed down onto his knees, his face still raised to the sky. He didn't know what to think. He didn't know what to feel. He was so lost there was a bitter taste in his mouth, resembling the fear he felt before.

But before he could actually lose himself in his mental insanity, strong arms had wrapped around him, pulling him backwards into a toned chest. They ran through his sunlight hair, they covered his shoulders with a jounin vest, they rubbed circles into his back and they re-sealed the symbols on his stomach just in case his emotions might set the Kyuubi free.

At last, Kakashi had gotten his revenge.

 **That night**

They were on their way back to Konoha, slowed down by the injures they both had to endure. It had gotten extremely cold, and Naruto had sneezed a couple of times already. Kakashi decided it'd be best if they hurried up and made their way home as fast as they could. They'd be home faster, too, if he carried the blonde. To which Naruto stubbornly refused, ofcourse. Even if he wasn't even supposed to be up and about for another two weeks, he refused to be carried, even while enduring all the pain.

"You're being foolish."

"I don't care."

"Just let me carry you. We'd be home way faster if I did."

"I don't care."

"You're getting ill already and you're shivering."

"I don't care."

"My book's getting lonely."

"I don't care."

"Sakura-chan's waiting for you."

"I don't care."

"... I'll let you have ramen tomorrow."

"I don't care."

"Stubborn fool."

"So be i-" but Kakashi didn't leave the boy any time to finish his sentance, being so that he had already knocked the boy out and picked him up. Gods was he happy he could move a little faster now.

The blonde woke up just when he was opening the door to his house.

"Hmm..? K..Kakashi...Where...Wait...I TOLD YOU NO!"

Kakashi shrugged and curved his visible eye up into a victorious smile. "I got tired of our slow pace, what can I say?"

"You could say something like "I respect your feelings and thoughts, being it so that you're SIXTEEN and no longer the right age to carry around like a little kid" or something like that."

"I'll try and remember that one."

Naruto rolled his eyes, knowing full-well that the older man would never even think twice about what he had just told him.

The man carried him to that bed again. The one he'd gotten carried to on all the other days there was something wrong, or he wasn't feeling well.

Only this time, Kakashi stayed in the room, on the same bed. He didn't lay the blonde down and tell him to sleep, either. He just say down, not letting go of the boy, and fell asleep himself.

For once, he seemed at peace. Like he could finally get some rest. Naruto no longer felt taunted anymore, either.

It almost seemed like all their worries had been forgotten suddenly. If only for one night, all their troubles just floated away. The wind carried their problems away like it did the snowflakes that were dancing outside.

"..Kakashi..?" Naruto whispered.

"Hmm?" his sensei cracked an eye open.

"Goodnight..."

The older man kissed his forehead softly. "'Night."

 **News: Update every Wednesday or Thursday, so stay tuned~**

 **Give me your comments, criticisms or suggestions. And I'd love to reply in the next chapter. Thank you.**

 **Ja Ne!**


	11. Our whisker hokage

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto.**

 **sultryvoice:** Thank you for review, I'm glad you like it. :)

 **sleep231:** Thank you :)

Naruto gazed outside at the beautiful display of Winter in Konoha. The houses and buildings had been coated in the crisp white plots of snow and the downfalling snowflakes were large and gentle. Everything appeared to be at peace, covered in the heavenly white substance. Even the air had a certain brisk calmness about it the blonde couldn't describe.

Whatever the case, Konoha was peaceful in all its beautiful glory. The thought of peace brought stillness to Naruto's mind. He felt like he could rest, even if for just a few minutes. One minute would do. Just one minute that he could pursuade himself there was some kind of righteousness out there. That Pain was wrong, and peace could be achieved if they really wanted it.

He remembered how much mental pain he'd suffered when the question had been asked to him. How was he to solve the problems of the world? How was he to bring peace to people who had never believed in it before? It wasn't his task to. And he wasn't so dense to actually believe that just his strong will could solve everything. But he did believe that if EVERYONE really wanted it, things could change. The only problem was, how was he to get everyone to want peace?

It was the base of every war. Every goddamn fight. For Christ's sake, little children learned to fight when they were but very young. The first time they fight for a toy, or their oppinion. They didn't know it back then, but they were drawing lines inside of their heads, seeing how far they could go before drama would break out.

And this, Naruto could not prevent from happening.

The blonde male rested his forehead on his handpalm and clutched his blonde spikes with his fingers. He shut his eyes, trying to calm himself down. There we go, he gets two minutes of peace and he finds a way to put a stop to the lovely relaxation. Terrific.

A hand on his shoulder shook him out of his thoughts.

"You're awfully stressed today." Kakashi commented.

"A knock on the door wouldn't have been disstressing." Naruto replied.

"I'm sorry lord Hokage, I figured you'd gotten used to my habit of coming in through the window."

"Oh, my jounin citizen, your habits are not things I get used to comfortably." Naruto returned. He didn't like being called 'lord Hokage' by Kakashi. The reason for this was that any time Kakashi would refer to him like that, it was always in a mocking tone.

"Still, it's kinda' weird you didn't notice me. Especially since it's cold out and I let the cold air in."

"Think not too deeply of it, sensei. Searching for things that don't link is unresulting. You'll wind up looking for things that don't make sense." Naruto sighed.

"You know, for anyone that hasn't seen you for three years and suddenly talk with you again, they won't believe it's really you."

"What're you talking about, sensei? If it's more babble that doesn't concern the matter at hands, please do keep it to yourself."

Kakashi furrowed his brows and gave Naruto an insulted look. "What's up with you today?" he asked. "You acting very unlike yourself."

Naruto sighed for what seemed the fifth time that day. "I don't know." he replied as he massaged his forehead.

It almost seemed like some kind of weight was on his shoulders, but he didn't know of what. He didn't know what was on his shoulders, or how heavy it truly was. All he knew was that he may never complete his mentor's dying wish. Everyone important to him seemed to have left him with some kind of debt and he didn't know if he could repay everyone for every little promise he'd made them.

He never wound up completing Sakura's wish. In the end, Sasuke died on his accord and never returned to the village. Well... alive, at least.

The wish of his father wasn't his to keep, but he could have made it easier to accomplish. When his father wanted the villagers to look upon him as his son, and not the Kyuubi, but they chose to scrutinise him and discriminate him and hurt him in every possible way. If only he'd chosen to suck up to the villagers instead of play pranks on them for his revenge, things might have worked out in his father's favour. Unfortunately, what's in the past is in the past, and he couldn't change those things anymore. He changed it now, though, didn't he? He was Hokage, people honored him. Not all respected him, but they had to listen to him one way or the other.

Then there was Jiraiya's wish. His mentor had left him with the quest to find peace. But how could he? It wasn't up to him to declare peace amongst the whole world! It wasn't even up to him to declare peace amongst his own villagers! It wasn't his job. He wasn't allowed to declare this "peace". It wasn't his decision to make, or responsability to bare. Not even Kami could decide these things. So why should he?

"You're tired." Kakashi suddenly stated, out of the blue. He kneeled down before Naruto and looked up into the boy's tired blue eyes. Underneath his cerulean orbs were bags of fatigue and wrinkles of stress creased his tanned forehead.

"Unbegrudgingly so." Naruto replied with shut eyes.

"You should get some sleep."

"Shan't."

"Why not?"

"I'm the Hokage. I can't just sleep whenever it suits me. I won't copy Tsunade-baa-chan's actions."

"A half-asleep Hokage won't do the village much good, Naruto."

"Then shut up and pass me my coffee."

"You hate coffee."

"I used to hate coffee. It's the only thing that keeps me alive now."

"Great," Kakashi sighed as he reached out to pass the boy a cold cup of coffee, "the Hokage survives on caffeïne."

"And only that." Naruto replied, sipping at the cold brown beverage. Realising it was cold, he nearly spit it out, but realised that its effects would still work and gulped the whole thing down.

"Sakura's been promoted to official doctor." Kakashi suddenly brought up.

"Finally." Naruto remarked seriously, rummaging through his drawers.

"What do you mean, "finally"?"

"Well, we all knew she was capable of being more than a nurse or Tsunade's help. She's always deserved the title of 'doctor'."

"Well, she's finally received it."

"That's great." Naruto's voice wasn't happy or enthusiastic at all.

"You don't seem too happy for her."

"Don't I? Well, I am." Naruto smiled faintly before returning to his documents. Only 20 seconds later he sighed irritatedly and scratched at his head. His brows pulled together angrily as he scribbled something down and rolled the paper up before sending it away with a messenger bird.

"What's wrong?"

"Iwagakure." was Naruto's short reply. Before he could continue with his leftover paperwork, Kakashi had taken his inkbrush away and opened the window again.

"If you throw that out-" but Kakashi already held his hand outside the window.

"Get some rest or you're never seeing your beloved Snow Country brush again."

"This is beyond childish, Kakashi!" Naruto grumbled.

Said man merely smiled through his eyes and jiggled the pen a little to make it seem like it was about to slip through his fingers.

"I'm serious, Kakashi, stop being such a damn fool and give it back."

"Once you agree that the sofa in your office is meant to be used – by you."

"Just give it back." Naruto sighed.

"Nope."

"I'm the fucking Hokage, Kakashi! Give it now or I'll have you in prison for a couple of days."

"Like you'd ever. You'd be too worried about your poor old man to do that."

"I wouldn't give a damn." the blonde growled through grit teeth, making it sound utterly serious.

"Aww, come on, that really hurts y'know."

"Couldn't care less. Now stop being such a child and hand me my brush."

But the man had already let go of the writing device, sending it flying from 20 meters in the air and land in a soft pile of snow; only to be welcomed in the white substance a little too kindly and burry itself two feet under the fluffy winter element.

Naruto's face had gone from angry to angrier and within seconds he was choking his adoptive father. "You damn fool! How the heck am I gonna' get another Snow Country brush?!"

"I dunno'," Kakashi said inbetween struggles for breath, "order a new one?"

"The guy stopped making pens you idiot!"

"Sai?"

"Sai's-... hmm... I guess you're right. I could ask Sai."

"Great! Now could you stop choking me.. please?"

"Sure." Naruto smiled, but sent his sensei flying through the window – to meet up with the pen he'd stoically thrown out the window only seconds earlier.

The Hokage clapped the dirt off his hands contently. "That'll serve him."

"So you won't get some rest?"

Naruto turned around again. "Shizune?" he asked, shocked.

"Yup. Tsunade-sama asked Kakashi-san to pursuade you to get some sleep. She said it wasn't good to stay up for days on end and you know that everything Tsunade says is true. She's the -"

"The best medic specialist, I know." Naruto replied. "I guess I'll take you up on that offer, then. If Tsunade-baa-chan says so."

-R-

 **Note:** Don't worry I'm not done yet for this story, so see you next week.

 **Sorry if it's too short, I promise to the next chapter will be long like previous one.**

 **If you have time g** **ive me your comments, criticisms or suggestions. And I'd love to reply in the next chapter. Thank you.** **Ja ne!**


	12. Got new friends (Young Naruto)

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC.**

A little boy with sunshine blonde hair sat in the grass underneath a big tree on the training grounds of Konoha. There were ninja practicing their jutsu here, but also kids blowing bubbles. Which is why young Naruto was here; he wanted to see the bubbles.

The man who'd recently adopted him was currently training his 'maybe-students' and testing them to see if they could officially become his little toys. Yes, Naruto had noticed how Kakashi liked to control the people around him. Not control as in order them to do things, though. More like keep them at a distance at his very will.

But Naruto didn't really watch the match as much as the other people around him. He was really fascinated by the bubbles and all the colors they wore. They reflected every color on the trainingrounds and mixed them into new colors Naruto's never seen before.

When a bubble drifted off into his direction, he watched it with utter curiosity and stretched his arm out in his attempt to catch it.

"No! Don't!" one of the kids blowing bubbles cried. It was a girl with braids and little freckles on her nose. If Naruto didn't know better, he'd say she was a very sweet girl.

"Mommy! The demon-fox is trying to burst my bubbles!" she called her mother over.

The mother wrapped her arms around her child protectively and gave Naruto a snobby look. "Stay away from my little girl you damned fox!" she hissed.

Naruto just stared at the woman. He didn't learn how to talk yet, unlike many other children around his age. Sure, Kakashi taught him lots of new words, but he barely ever remembered them or knew in what context to place them.

So he sat there with his legs spread open on the grass and his hands between them, picking at some of the green blades.

"Did you hear me?!" the woman snarled.

Naruto's big blue eyes gazed at her sadly, but he showed no sign of acknowledgement.

The woman dragged her child by the hand toward Naruto and hunched down before him as she pointed an accusing finger at him. "You stay away from my child, you understand?!"

From afar, Kakashi dodged a shuriken and turned his head around to see if the blonde kid was still okay. He noticed a woman and a little girl with a bubble-blowing stick in hand standing only an inch away from him. At first he thought the woman might be inviting him to join her daughter with the bubble-blowing, but then he saw the woman jab his chest angrily, trying to get through to him.

He poofed away, leaving the three Genin dumbfoundedly staring at the patch of grass where he only just stood.

"If you go near my daughter I swear I'll personally snap that little neck of yours!" the kind-looking mother pressed her polished finger roughly into his chest again. It hurt, but Naruto didn't know how to react. He knew he couldn't jab her back and he wasn't one to cry. What should he do? He was clueless. But exactly then his savior appeared out of nowhere, stopping the woman's hand. He smiled with his visible eye and stood up again, making the woman stand up aswell.

"I'm sorry, m'am, I believe you have the wrong idea of how things go in the Fire Country." Kakashi said, still smiling.

"What on earth are you talking about?" the woman, who appeared to be a warm-hearted mother, innocently asked.

"It appears that where you're from it's normal to jab other people's children. I'm sorry to have to tell you that isn't how it works in Konoha. Here in Konoha.." he tightened his fingers around the woman's wrist until she winced at the pain, ".. we lay off of other people's kids, understand?"

The woman nodded quickly several times in a row and Kakashi released her. She dragged her child away again, saying, "Come on darling, we'll go blow bubbles elsewhere." before disappearing out of sight.

"You okay, Naru?" the silverhaired jounin hunched down infront of the blonde who was still picking at the grass between his legs.

The kid appeared completely unfased by what just happened and just continued spreading blades of grass into the air.

Kakashi sighed. "We really need to teach you how to talk."

Naruto looked up at the statement with a confused look on his face. One that appeared to mean, "I know how to talk, I just don't want to." Or perhaps even, "I gave up on talking, 'cos everything I say results into horrific slaps or other violence anyway." Either way it didn't really mean much good to the older man.

"Sensei? Are we gonna' continue the test now?" one of his 'students' pried.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure." he hoisted the blond boy up and swung him around until he was on his back. Kakashi didn't need to support him or hold his legs; the boy held on to his shoulders by himself anyway. And the kid was so little and light he barely felt a thing.

"Uhh.. sensei.. you're not gonna' fight that way, are you?"

"Of course I am!" he smiled.

"But.. what if we hurt him?" the girl of the team asked worriedly. She didn't want to hurt a little kid.

"You won't."

"You're mocking us, sensei!" one of the boys on his team growled. "You think we can't lay a finger on you!"

"I don't think that... I know it."

"Oh yeah?! Take this!"

And the fight went on and on until Naruto had gotten enough of it and let go of Kakashi's shoulders. The little boy went back to his tree and settled himself down against the stump. The sky had turned an orange-pink colour and the blonde had gotten tired. He was about to take a nap, but the jounin had suddenly anounced a winner and decided that the team should go home to get some rest. Tomorrow he'd be doing another test on them and from there he'd decide whether they passed the exam or not.

"Come on, punk." he told the three-year-old as he stretched out an arm toward him. Naruto grabbed it and climbed his way up until he was hanging off Kakashi's shoulders again. The man brought him back home, where he fell asleep within a matter of seconds.

 **The next morning**

Kakashi went to wake the blonde boy up, but when he entered the kid's room he didn't find him. The orange plush fox was still on the child's bed, but he was missing. It wouldn't be the first time he played hide-and-seek, but the kid wasn't so dense that he played it alone. So Kakashi was worried, to say the least.

The jounin looked all over the house, but after five minutes of searching he decided the child wasn't there and that he should search all over Konoha itself. This was certainly a problem, seeing as Konoha is huge.

He didn't lose willpower, though, and decided he'd find the boy no matter how long it took.

It took him a total of three hours to figure out where the child could be. When he reached the park, he spotted two girls blowing bubbles and a rather curious Naruto staring at the soapy foam. His jaw had dropped to the floor and his bright azure eyes were huge. He stretched out a finger at one of the bubbles, but suddenly he could hear a very loud clang to his right and turned around quickly to find his guardian standing infront of him, holding up a kunai.

Less than a second later a shuriken pierced the soft soil next to Naruto. Apparently, one of the people standing on the sidelines got angry and threw a shuriken at the boy, but Kakashi had blocked it.

"I told you to leave my little girl alone." one of the children's father hissed at Naruto.

"I can't believe a ninja would attack a helpless kid." Kakashi shook his head disapprovingly.

"What's it to you, Hatake?! You may be the pride of the village now, but once people find out you're helping the demon-brat, you'll be hated as much as it is!"

"Gods I can't believe a ninja can't speak properly," the silver-haired jounin replied. "Just so you know, we refer to people as "him" or "her", and not "it"."

"Fuck off copy-nin."

"And curses, too. You're going down the wrong path there, Tenari."

"Are you trying to piss me off, Hatake?!"

"Nah, that would be a waste of my precious time. I suggest you use yours to train on that aim o' yours. 'Cos truthfully, it sucks. If I didn't block it for him, the kid would've just blocked it himself."

The man's face screwed into an angry expression before he lunged himself at Kakashi with a kunai in each hand. Kakashi picked the young blonde up before kicking the man away and walking away casually. The little girl stopped blowing bubbles and ran over to her father.

"Daddy!" she cried. She turned toward Kakashi angrily. "I hate you!" she screamed.

Kakashi stopped suddenly and turned around. "I'm sorry. Your daddy's been a very bad man. I shouldn't have done that, either, though. So how 'bout we make it up by playing with you?"

The little girl's expression cleared in a matter of seconds and before they knew it, she was smiling brightly. "I have bubblesoap!" she exclaimed.

Naruto didn't understand what was going on when the girl grabbed his hand and pulled him toward where the big bubbleblowing sticks lay. She picked one up and held it out to him, but Naruto didn't know what she wanted of him.

"Don't you wanna' play?" the girl asked sweetly.

The other girl that looked a lot like the first child walked over to them. "Sissy, who's that?" the younger sibling whispered shyly. The sister turned to Kakashi questionally. The man walked over to them and hunched down.

"Naruto. His name's Naruto." he introduced the young blonde with a smile.

"I'm Sira. And this is my little sister, Kira." the girl replied brightly.

"Does Naruto play?" Kira asked, still shying behind her big sister.

"He certainly does!" the older man replied happily.

Naruto wasn't as happy as his guardian, though. He didn't understand what was going on. He thought this was wrong. The daddy of the little girls was mean and angry and he didn't want him to play with his daughters. So why was he standing so close to these kids? He didn't like being so close to them. Something inside of him went off like an alarm, warning him that if he didn't get away from these kids fast, their parents would come and attack him.

And so he backed up, but suddenly a large arm wrapped around him and jiggled him lightly. The arm was longer than his body and wrapped around his waist easily. A large hand ruffled his hair while still around him, showing him he was safe and everything was still okay. The second hand of the large ivory pair held up a bubble-stick as a deep, yet reassuring voice whispered into his ear, "Blow."

The young blonde hesitated at first, but then he took a deep breath and blew as hard as he could. He'd seen other children blow bubbles like it was a piece of cake, but it was a big feat to him to be able to blow his own and watch them lift into the sky freely. Slowly but surely, a huge smile crept onto his face. But when the bubble popped, it faded.

Naruto's huge eyes gazed at where the bubble had just been. Normally kids would cry the first time they blow a bubble and it pops out of existence, wondering if it died or if they did something wrong. He understood very well that it was gone. He wasn't confused. But he didn't cry. For some reason he didn't mind the fact that it disappeared. His eyes were still staring intently at the broken sky, his mind drifting off to corners that shouldn't be developed yet. Like he was in the forbidden section of his mind. The section that said, "Do not cross until you're 18". But he was a rambunctious little lad, and he was curious too. He wanted to know if he could be like that bubble. If it were a sin to wonder whether it's okay to just pop in and out of existence. It sure would be pleasant if he could just disappear if he wanted to.

"It's okay, Naruto, you can blow a new one." Sira said, trying to cheer the blonde up again. "See?" she blew a huge bubble, at least double the size of Naruto's.

The blonde kid's eyes filled with determination and newfound lust. He wanted to blow the biggest bubble ever. He wanted to be able to crawl into it and float off into the air. Taste the freedom it danced in. And just for a few seconds, he wanted to be carried away from all the realistic pain, to far off dreams and fantasies. Just for a few seconds, before bursting and vanishing into thin air, leaving a thin layer of bubblesoap in the air as a last goodbye.

When he saw the stick Kakashi held up for him, he was determined to accomplish that dream and filled his lungs with as much air as he could manage. He blew it all out as harshly as he could, but found the bubblesoap just dripped out of the round plastic shape.

Kakashi chuckled. "Slowly," he said.

Naruto retried, blowing gently this time, creating a perfect round bubble, twice the size of Sira's. He smiled, proud of himself. He reached out to the bubble, ready to step into it and squeeze himself into the shape that was tinier than his own form.

"Watch out," the silverhaired jounin warned, pulling his arm back gingerly, "you'll break it."

And that was the line. The invisible line he couldn't cross. His question had been answered; he couldn't just pop out of existance. Because someone was holding him back. A strong arm on his shorter one, and another matching muscular one around his waist. They held him back. They wanted him to stay. And so he would. For this person.

 **Sorry if it's too short for your taste. And I want to ask you something, are you really want this continue or just stop here? Give me your answer please.** **Thank you.** **Ja ne!**


	13. Toothache

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC.** **(Except my Hinata of course #Evil Laugh)**

 **Good news for today!! Because I'm free all day from yesterday until tomorrow. I, already made 2 chapter for all of you. I hope you enjoy it. Have a nice day!**

A certain blondehaired boy sat on the swing outside the academy, one hand on the chains while the other wiggled around a tooth in his mouth. It was hurting alot for a very long time already. And it was getting loose, aswell. Naruto was afraid there was something wrong with his tooth and that perhaps he fell on it or something. So he decided to just let it be for now – something he failed horribly at. He just couldn't stop wiggling it around. It was in the way and it hurt.

"Naruto, what're you doing?" Kiba asked, looking at him like he was crazy or something.

"Thewe' 'ometing wong wid my tood," the blonde replied... or at least tried to.

"What?"

"My tood. 'Omething's wong."

"Something's wrong with your tooth?"

"Ye!"

"No biggie, you're probably just changing teeth. Which one?"

"Dis one." Naruto pointed at one of his lower canines.

"Yup. Did you get your grown-up incisors yet?"

"Incisors?" Naruto repeated.

"Yeah, the front row ones. The big ones on the top and bottom and the ones next to those."

"Huh?"

"These," Kiba sighed, going over his central and laternal incisors.

"No..."

"Wow! You're late, then."

"Is that bad?" Naruto asked, worried.

"I dunno'. I'm from the Inuzuka clan, we change teeth differently than you guys."

"Oh.." the bell rang Naruto out of his worried thoughts and he watched as children left the academy grounds happily.

Naruto sat on the swing for another half hour, wiggling his tooth all the while. What if there was something wrong with him? Why did he change teeth later than other kids? Was it because he ate ramen all the time? Maybe Kakashi was right and he should eat more vegetables... Didn't he brush his teeth enough? Oh God, what if they refused to come out before he brushed his teeth perfectly? Or what if they wouldn't budge unless he stopped eating ramen? He didn't want to have baby-teeth when he was 20! People would laugh at him...

"Yo." Kakashi suddenly greeted, poofing up out of nowhere.

Naruto yelped and fell off of his swing. The silverhaired jounin caught him just in time before he touched the ground, though. The man still had his book in hand and flipped a page with his thumb. "Watch it," he warned, bringing the child back onto his feet.

Naruto, embaressed that he fell off the swing 'cos of a nice hello, pointed an accusing finger at Kakashi, yelling, "It's your fault I fell! You shouldn't just poof up out of nowhere!"

"Ahh, sorry, sorry." Kakashi apologised guiltily before snatching the six-year-old's jaw and pinching it lightly, forcing it open.

Naruto's shocked blue eyes widened with fear. What if Kakashi found out there was something wrong with his teeth? What if he had to get rid of ALL his teeth? He didn't want that! He didn't want to be toothless at the age of six!

"Your tooth's bleeding." Kakashi murmured.

The young blonde tried to push the older man's arm away. "No it isn't!" he tried to convince the jounin. "It's fine!"

"Nope, it's really bleedin' there. You should get that checked out at the dentist."

Naruto swore someone played an evil tune inside his head as lightningbolts flared before his eyes and a crazy scientist laughed his wicked laugh in his ears.

The boy swallowed harshly before whispering, "D...dentist?"

"Yeah. Like a doctor for teeth. Come to think of it.. there's a dentist right around our corner." Kakashi tapped his chin with his finger as he stared up at the sky, deep in thought. "Hmm?" he looked down at the noticably shivering blonde. The jounin grinned behind his mask before ruffling through the kid's hair.

"It's alright, he's a very nice man."

Naruto wasn't convinced though. Never the less, he didn't say a word as he and Kakashi walked home in silence. The man was fine with this aswell, since he now had the opportunity to read his book in peace.

 **That evening**

"Naruto, your favorite." Kakashi knocked on the boy's door.

Said child dropped the scrolls he was studying as he thought of the evil teeth in his mouth like cartoons with glaring eyes.

"I-I-I'm not so hungry.."

"Hmm?" the man opened his door. "By favorite I mean ramen, you do know that, right?"

"W-w-we have my favorite every night."

"True, but that's 'cos it's your favorite. What's wrong? You ill or something?"

"N-no. Just not so hungry. That's all. Hehehe."

The ex-ANBU wasn't convinced and removed his glove before holding his hand up against Naruto's forehead. "You feel fine. What's up? Did Ino tell you some scary ramen-story again?"

"No. I'm just not really in the mood for ramen..."

"Or your teeth aren't in the mood for ramen?" Kakashi asked. "If it hurts so much we can go to the dentist now. I don't mind."

"NO!!" Naruto shrieked. "I mean, er, no. There's no need for that. I'm fine! Honest!"

Kakashi sighed. "You're scared of the dentist, aren't you?"

"No! I'm not afraid of the dentist! He's just... not my best friend.. that's all."

"C'mere." the older man hoisted the kid over his shoulder and walked out the door with him.

"W-what're you doing?! Let me go! Kakashiiii!!"

"Woah, relax. We're just gonna' pay Iruka-sensei a visit."

"Oh... Okay.. wait. Why?"

"'Cos he's a specialist at these things. I'm sure he can get rid o' that sucker for ya'."

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!"

~*~*~*~ Later on ~*~*~*~

"Kakashi? What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just this lad." the jounin pointed at the kid he now had in a head-lock and was desperately trying to get away. Iruka's eyes would've popped out of his head had it not been for the fact that this surely wasn't the worst thing the older man did with the child.

"Ah.. I see. So what appears to be the problem?" he asked, guiding them into his livingroom.

"Toothache." Kakashi sighed, letting go of the boy suddenly.

This resulted in the blonde flying across the room and smacking against the back of Iruka's couch. "Goddamnit, Kakashi!" the six-year-old cursed.

Said man merely smiled n's happily as he grabbed the collar of Naruto's shirt and hoisted the boy up onto the coffeetable.

Iruka bent down infront of him. "Open wide," he ordered kindly.

Even if the Chuunin's voice was warm and his eyes were kind, the academy student refused to open his mouth any more for the rest of the evening.

"If you do, I'll cancel our next detention session."

Naruto was deep in thought, but after a minute of hard thinking, he shook his head 'no'.

Iruka sighed. "How 'bout I make Sakura-chan sit next to you?"

Nope.

"I'll throw Sasuke out of class."

It didn't take all too long for Naruto to open his mouth after hearing that.

"Hmmm.." the Chuunin went, poking around in the blonde's mouth with a cotton ear stick. "Yup, you're growin' some fine canines in there, Naruto."

"But why so late?" the youth asked worriedly.

"Well, my guess would be you're just a latebloomer. Nothing to worry about." Iruka ruffled through the blonde's hair, though both older men in the room knew exactly what it meant. Naruto needed more time because his teeth needed to develop more. His teeth needed to develop more because he had higher potential than other children in that area. And this was due to the fact that none other than the Demon Fox itself homed inside of the little boy's body.

It made sense that it took longer for his canines to grow out. It would also make sense, though, if his were larger and sharper than other children's. Even Kiba, who had dog fangs, would look at naruto with newfound jealousy. But this would soon disappear when Kiba realised he was first to change teeth.

"We're gonna' have to pull the other one out to make room for the new one."

"What?!" Naruto squeeked, backing away from the brunette.

"Calm down, it won't hurt." the man tried to reassure him, but the child had lost all trust in the chuunin and nearly tripped over the coffeetable. He backed up until he bumped against the wall and couldn't move and farther.

Both ninja walked over to the 6-year-old calmly, trying their best to make him feel safe so he wouldn't try and run away again. This, ofcourse, was just a dream, since Naruto wasn't planning on having any of his teeth pulled out. To him, pulling them out meant there was something very wrong with his teeth and it was abnormal to have to pull teeth out. He thought they just popped out and exchanged themselves during the night. They'd magically appear underneath his pillow along with some money. This situation was out of the ordinary to him.

"Super-slick-escaping-jutsu-go!" the young blonde called out, forming a single handsign before pulling out a couple of smoke-bombs and throwing them at the floor. Sparkly purple smoke erupted from within the balls the moment they hit the floor. Naruto took his chance and ran for it.

Unfortunately, a certain copy-nin wasn't deaf nor senseless. He used his nose to find his prey easily, and he had the boy by the collar of his shirt within seconds.

"Nice try, but to perform a jutsu, you must actually form real handsigns." the jounin 'praised' him, sitting down with the boy on his lap.

"Alright, Iruka, all set." he called his friend over. The chuunin accepted and walked over to the two with a tiny pair of tongs.

The blonde moved around as much as he could, trying to avoid the steel tool. It looked painful, even deadly, and he wasn't sure about it at all. The problem with these things is that you never get the time to decide anything, and everything goes far too fast to really understand. And if you don't understand it, you can't possibly feel safe!

"Sit~still," the chuunin muttered, closing one eye to be more precise with his timing and clearity.

The whiskered blonde would do no such thing and squirmed around even more. He tried his best to shut his mouth or at least grit his teeth as he turned his face away from the brunette. After a short while of this, Kakashi had gotten enough of it and wrapped one arm around the youth to hold him still while the other grabbed his jaw and gently pinched it so as to force it open.

"Thanks," Iruka sighed gratefully. He managed to get the pincirs of the little tongs around the boy's loose tooth and tightened them before holding on steady and pulling it out as smoothly and gently as he could.

Naruto winced slightly, more because he was afraid than because it hurt. He shut his eyes, expecting more pain. To his surprise, though, there was no more. The arm that had tightened around him earlier loosened and lay limply around his waist. The other hand let go and got placed atop his head.

The pre-Genin opened his eyes slowly to the smiling face of his sensei, who held up a bloody tooth to him. Naruto took it and eyed it curiously. "Is this my tooth?" he asked suspiciously. Who knows they might be tricking him into believing it's his tooth while in reality, the evil scientist was hiding behind the couch, ready to drill a hole into his canines?

"Yup, it's all yours," Iruka smiled.

Naruto felt around his mouth with his tongue. Surely, there was a spot missing in his lower line of teeth. It tasted coppery and it was wetter than the other areas in his mouth. Behind the spot was a small stud. If that was supposed to be his new tooth, Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to get rid of the last one anymore. Then again, it never really WAS his idea to get rid of the other one in the first place...

"Aren't you happy you can eat ramen again?" Kakashi asked, ruffling his blonde spikes.

"Ramen?" the blonde repeated, the suspicious look on his face replaced by a broad grin.

The two older men chuckled about his foolish trust and unawareness. The fact that he could blindly follow the jounin's orders, believe every word that came out of his mouth and trust him without hesitation, was just too adorable.

"Let's go out to Ichiraku's for the real stuff. That sound like a plan to you, Iruka?"

"Sure, why not?" Iruka replied, and the three of them set off to the Ramen Stand.

-R-

"You sure are a scaredy-cat, Naruto."

"Am not!"

"Oh, you should've seen your face when you saw the tongs."

"A bug flew in my eye!"

"Are you saying I have bugs in my house?!"

"You sure do! Everywhere!"

"Don't be rude, Naruto."

"Well you shouldn't poke your fingers around my mouth!"

"Ah, but I am a specialist when it comes to poking."

"Ow! Kakashi! I'm gonna' get you for that!!"

 **Swiped to the right quick!!**


	14. Swim with my guardian!

**Welcome my beloved readers! You made it in time for swiped the page fast enough just like I said. Oh god, I'm glad I don't have to show you my new jutsu and.. The target of course is you. Applause for your success!**

 **Alright! enough for talking nonsense and enjoy your extra page minna!**

Naruto stared at the water kids were splashing around in. They were laughing and having fun, already able to reach the bottom of the pool with their feet. Little Naruto, on the other hand, could not reach the bottom yet unless he held his head underwater.

The noise of the shrieks and laughter, even just the splashing of water, echoed through the large room. There were big windows along the edge of the pool, allowing the bright sunlight to make the water sparkle.

The young blonde got down on his hands and knees next to the pool and gazed into the water. He tried to see his reflection, but all he could see in the wild water was the floor of the pool. Long black stripes were painted on the light blue tiles, indicating how far you can go before hitting your head against the hard concrete at the other end.

"You ready?" a voice suddenly asked from beside him, making him yelp and fall. Just before he toppled into the water, an arm tugged him backwards and held him upright. "I guess not," the voice declared.

"K-Kakashi!" the blonde sputtered accusingly.

"Nope, Santaclause. Ready to take your presents away from you," the silverhaired jounin replied. He was wearing swimshorts and... for some weird reason... his mask. Girls and women alike were staring at him and his perfectly shaped abs with newfound aspiration. To them he appeared to be some godly sculpture, though he was nothing more than an annoying guy that pops out of nowhere to the whiskered boy.

"Ha, ha," Naruto bit at the man, "would you stop doing that? Or at least don't act like it's my fault I almost fell."

"Your ninja instincts should've told you I was there. But I'll stop for now. Wouldn't want you falling now, would we?" the jounin smiled his infamous n-smile and held out a pair of inflatable armbands. Otherwise known as 'waterwings'.

"Uhm... what are you doing?" the boy asked, quirking an eyebrow and gazing at the jounin like he was insane.

"Here. Put them on," the older man instructed.

"Uh, no."

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, you know the rule. You can't swim, if you want to get in the water you'll either have to wear the bands or have me come in with you. So here, put 'em on."

"I'm not wearing them! And you're not coming in, either! Go read your book or something."

"I wish I could, but I'm not risking getting it wet. There are some ladies that long for my company, anyway."

Naruto knew the man was lying. Not about the fact that there were women who wanted him around, no, he was sure at least half of the swimmers here wanted the man's attention. It was just that Kakashi himself wasn't interested in spending time with those people.

"So go entertain them with a magic trick. I'll go in that way." Naruto pointed at the other side of the pool, ready to leave the silverhaired man to enter the pool on this side. That way the man would be far away from him and Naruto could teach himself how to swim. It was about time he learned!

The blonde tappled away, hurrying to the other end of the pool. When he reached the other side, he sat himself down and let his legs soak in the water. He planted his hands beside him and shut his eyes as he took a deep breath. He slowly let his legs sink further into the chlorophyll-ey water. His breath hitched a little when his upper legs felt the cold water pulling him down.

And as the blonde was lowering himself further into the pool, he was totally unaware of the hands that awaited him. Kakashi was standing at the deep end of the pool, the side where Naruto said he would be going. In other words, the side where Kakashi wasn't supposed to be. Nevertheless, he was standing there, holding his arms out expectantly. And the totally oblivious boy came closer to the arms without noticing it himself.

When the arms closed in around him, the blonde's eyes snapped open, paniced. The blue-eyed boy yelped, scared to shit.

"Shht, it's alright, I got you," the silverhaired jounin murmured.

"That's the point!" the blonde snapped back. "What're you doing on this end?! You were supposed to be over there!"

Kakashi sighed again. "I told you, you could either wear the bands or have me come in with you. Since you wouldn't wear the bands, I didn't really have another choice, did I? Besides, you should've gotten in on the shallow end. This is way too deep."

"I can decide that myself, thank you! And I was doing just fine before you showed up!"

"Oh yeah? Well go ahead and show me."

"Fine!" Naruto snapped, trying to push the jounin away. The man wouldn't let go, though.

"I meant; show me the movement. How would you swim if I weren't here right now?"

"Well I can't show you since you are here." Naruto rolled his eyes as though it were the most obvious thing ever.

"Just show me the movement."

"Mmm.." Naruto hummed, glancing around at the other kids around him. He watched one of them move his arms and legs in a line of flowing movements and copied him. He wound up getting a mouthfull of disgusting water, though. Trying to hack it out of his system, he coughed and sputtered around the place.

"Alright. Your movement was okay, but the sync between your arms and legs needs improving. Also, please do try to keep your head above the water."

"Tsk!" the blonde went, annoyed. "It's because you're in the way!" he accused.

"Well how 'bout wearing the bands, then?" Kakashi suggested, knowing full-well the boy would refuse again. He'd noticed how he hated being looked down upon and the blonde didn't want any of the kids to laugh at him and tell him what a bad swimmer he was.

"No! And I don't want you to help me, either. I can do this by myself."

"Oh, really?" the jounin asked, quizically.

"Really! Watch me!" Naruto used all his strength to get the man to let go and tried the movement again. He only wound up spluttering around again, nearly drowning in the process. He didn't give up, though, and kept on trying. This all resulted in him moving around even more rambunctiously and losing track of his movements. When Kakashi found his head was underwater for far too long, he grabbed the blonde again and held him as high up against his chest as he could get him. The azure-eyed boy was coughing wickedly again, drops of water splattering back into the pool.

"Nice try," the jounin complimented him, patting his wet hair, "but no."

The young boy was shivering, startled by the feeling of lacking breath. He turned around in the jounin's arms, resting his forehead against the man's warm chest. He never thought he'd experience such a feeling. Drowning must be a horrible way to die.

The boy's adoptive father was paddling with his feet to keep them both above the water, but when he realised the kid was going to need a little more time to process he hoisted the child along with himself back onto the side. He let his legs droop into the water, but kept the youth close to him, letting him get used to breathing normally again.

After a minute or so, Naruto had gotten over his newfound fear and was ready to try this again.

"You ready to go back into the water?"

"Mm!" the kid replied, nodding.

"Alright." Kakashi got in first, holding his arms out to the blonde like he did earlier. This time the whiskered boy voluntarily let himself be held above the water and carried away to the shallow end. As the jounin swam to the other side, Naruto noticed how almost every woman in the pool was drooling into the water, their eyes locked onto the silverhaired man.

"Alright, try again," Kakashi instructed, appearing completely oblivious to the staring women. He flipped the boy onto his stomach, strapping two arms around his abdomen securely, letting him do the arm-and-leg work. After a short while Naruto had gotten the hang of it and told the jounin he was ready to try on his own.

Kakashi had sighed, but nodded and let go. Surely, the young blonde was swimming on his own, without the inflatable bands and without the help of his guardian. Turns out he didn't need him after all.

"So where are those drooling ladies in need?" Kakashi muttered to himself, looking around to find them all staring at him with hearts in their eyes.

 **10 minutes later**

Naruto was done doing his laps and looked around the swimming pool to find his guardian. The man was sitting in the hot tub with about as much women that could fit themselves in with him, wrinkled like a prune. The women didn't let him leave either, not that the guy appeared like he wanted to.

"Hmm.. I guess I'll try the waterslide, then," Naruto told himself, getting out of the pool. He tappled over to the long ladder and started his way up. All kinds of kids were waiting in line infront of him, most of which patiently standing still. Others, though, were forcing their way infront of others, being the nasty brats they were.

"Get outta' the way!" a taller boy ordered. Naruto knew he was just as old as the brunette, but since the kid was longer, he got more respect from the other children. Well.. 'respect'.. it was more like he was feared by the other children.

"Hey! I was standing there!" Naruto pointed out.

"Yeah, well, what'ya gonna' do about it, pipsqueek?"

"Listen, I don't want to fight. Can't you just wait your turn like everybody else?"

The tall boy laughed maniacally. "Can you believe this kid?" he elbowed a tall girl next to him. Probably a friend of his. "He's telling me to wait in line like the rest!"

The girl started giggling aswell and another boy joined in on the laughter. This boy had blonde hair, much like Naruto's, only more filthy looking.

"Hey, I'm just asking you to do like we all are," Naruto re-tried.

"Yeah?" the leader said, yabbing Naruto in the chest, "Well, I'm not like the lot of you! You'll listen to ME, got that?!"

"No! I don't listen to anybody!" Naruto refused.

"Oh, really?" the girl asked, flicking Naruto's nose; much to Naruto's displeasure. "Well, I suggest you listen to us because it's three on one here."

"Pfft. I can take on the three of you at the same time!"

The second boy laughed and pushed Naruto roughly against the metal railing, making it clang. "You wish!"

"You'll be wishing you never did that in a moment!" Naruto replied, furious. He was sick and tired of being pushed around by these bullies.

All the other children just stood there and watched, probably terrified of both groups. They were scared of the bullies 'cos they didn't want to get bullied, but those who knew of the Kyuubi were even more afraid of Naruto – not wanting to lose their life and all. (Can you blame 'em, though?)

The three taller kids laughed like a bunch of hyena's.

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Naruto growled. "Stop mocking me!"

The leader of the group suddenly stopped laughing and his face screwed into one of the angriest expressions Naruto's ever seen. "NOBODY ORDERS ME AROUND!!" he yelled at Naruto, punching him. The blonde fell to the ground and coughed before getting up again, ready to punch back. By this time, though, the girl was behind him and grabbed his arms. "Don't you even think about it," she giggled wickedly. The other tall boy got himself ready and kicked Naruto's leg like his life depended on it. Naruto winced in pain but couldn't manage to shake the girl off. Apparently they went to the ninja academy, aswell, like most kids in Konoha. It was the leader's turn again, and the boy walked up to Naruto with a creepy smile on his face before drawing his arm back and shoving it into Naruto's stomach.

The blonde shut his eyes, but didn't yell. He didn't scream or anything like that, because he knew Kakashi would hear him and come sort the mess out. And that's the last thing he wanted. He didn't want the bullies to think poor little Naruto needed daddy to come and save him. He would take care of these punks himself.

So he bit his lip, trying his best to hold it in.

Suddenly, the girl loosened her grip on his arms, but pushed him forwards toward the slide. She kicked his knees from behind him, forcing him into a sitting position, before shouting, "Train slide!"

The two other bullies walked over to her and placed their hands onto each-other's shoulders, linking to eachother like a chain. The last one set the chain of people off and they all went flying down the slide. The bullies were screaming with pleasure and joy, while Naruto was still sore and trying to figure out how to get into the water with having the three taller kids piling ontop of him, maybe causing him to drown.

But when he got a mouth-full of water and his body hit the pool's surface painfully, he had no more time to think and he felt heavy things hitting his back. The bullies collapsed ontop of him and pushed off on his back to reach the surface of the pool again. The three children laughed and got out of the water, ready to go again.

Meanwhile, the poor azure-eyed boy was nearing the bottom of the shallow end of the pool with little breath left to live on. I wonder if I should've asked for help... he thought, Though nobody would've helped me anyway, probably... Everything around him was quiet as he drifted off, lower and lower and lower. Am I really drowning? Hmm... it's not as bad as I thought. The water wasn't cold, nor was it warm. It was just right, actually. He felt light as a feather and kind of dizzy, too. Stupid bullies... They're the monsters, not me..

SPLASH

Though everybody always used to call ME a monster... No.. that's not true. Not everybody... Not Kakashi... Hey, where is that guy anyway? Oh yeah... he's in the hot tub, enjoying the ladies... He should. He deserves it..

Strong wips and tugs of arms split water and pushed it further away to the surface.

I've kind of been in his way the past few years, haven't I? I'm sure I annoyed him loads of times... We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for my whining...

Paniced movements and hysterical twists and turns forced a body closer toward its goal.

Is this my end..? Damn... I didn't want to end like this... I'm eight! I wanted to become the Hokage...

Strong arms reached what they were longing to hold and buckled around a fragile, bruised body and pulled it upwards.

Huh? What's happening? Naruto turned his head to see what was taking him closer to the pool's surface again. K... Kakashi..? How... How did he know...?

A loud crash of water brought the world back to life in Naruto's ears and he could hear the screaming and laughing of children in the pool again. The strong arms lead him out of the water and took him to the side, where they gently placed him flatly on the ground. Pressure was being applied to his abdomen and moments later the blonde was coughing up water. The same hands that had rescued him from the suffocating water now held him up straight so he could cough it all out and breathe.

"You idiot," his saviour scolded, "if you needed help, you should've called me!"

"I-" *COUGH* "-wanted to solve it m-" *COUGH* "-myself." Naruto replied inbetween coughs.

The ladies that had been drooling all over Kakashi before were now even more impressed and would've ran over to glomp Naruto if it weren't for the pool guides, pushing them back.

"Those idiots really suck at their job," Kakashi murmured to himself, picking the blonde up and sitting down on the long benches on the windowside of the pool, where most of the sun entered the gigantic room. He wrapped a towel around the blue-eyed boy and hoisted him onto his legs as he leaned his back against the huge windows. There were no backrests on the benches since they technically were no more than large tiled blocks of stone, but the window was comfortable enough, since it was warmed by the sun.

"Kakashi, I'm fine," the blonde quietly inquired, trying to push the jounin's arm away so he could stand, but the arm stayed firmly in its place where it had been before and refused to let go of the child.

The jounin shut his eyes tiredly and took a deep breath before taking a piece of the towel with his other hand and drying the sunshine blonde locks of the eight-year-old locked firmly between his arm and chest.

Said blonde shut one of his eyes in reaction and squirmed around, trying to get out of the strong hold, with poor result. "Really, Kakashi, I'm okay. Thanks for saving me. I'm perfectly fine now. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been, but-"

"Exactly," the jounin interrupted, "you were THIS close to death, Naruto, do you realise that? Maybe a second longer and you wouldn't have been here." The thought alone was like a hand squeezing the silverhaired man's chest.

"Well, I think it would've been more than a second, but isn't that what the ninja world is about? I'm becoming a shinobi because I'm ready to face scenario's like these. I don't want to die, but if it happens, I'll be a man and face it."

"Goddamnit Naruto, stop talking like it's out of experience. You're eight, not eighty." It was true, the boy talked like he was older than he really was. Kakashi used to think he was too dumb to know words like those, let alone put them together into sentences. But he knew he had to face it, accept it, and embrace it. This didn't mean that he had to live with the fact that his adoptive son was fine with dying at the suitable time at the age of eight.

But he knew why Naruto wasn't afraid of death. Why he didn't fear being so close to it. It was because he'd been close to it countless if times. Because the villagers used to beat him and drive him to death's playroom whenever it suited them. Naruto wasn't afraid anymore, though, because he had the Kyuubi.

Little did he know the Kyuubi couldn't save him from drowning.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you angry."

"I'm not angry, Naruto, I'm still scared to shit. Do you know I used to think you'd shout for help if you needed it?"

"But.. I didn't need i-"

"You almost died." Another sting in the man's chest. God why was it so hard to think of?

"I'm not a child anymore, Kakashi, I have to fight my own battles."

"You're EIGHT."

"Exactly, it's about time I learned how to defend myself."

"You're EIGHT."

"And I'm gonna' be a Genin in four years! How do you expect me to fend for myself if I don't learn how to fight?"

"Don't talk about what is yet to come. Just... be eight for now, okay?"

"Fine."

"And don't embrace death so willingly."

"Fine."

"And be grossed out by girls."

"Fine."

"And fear cooties."

"Fine."

"And love ramen."

"Fine."

"And hate teachers."

"Fine."

"And beg for action-men."

"Fine."

"And read comics."

"Fine."

"And watch cartoons."

"Fine."

"And clean up your room."

"Fi- HEY!"

The silverhaired jounin laughed and ruffled the boy's now-dry blonde locks. He held him a little closer and leaned his cheek against the back of the child's head. "And call me for help when you're in danger," he said a little softer, but clearer and with more of a get-through kind of tone.

"Alright."

Kakashi sighed and shut his eyes. "You sure are a handful," he mumured with a faint smile.

"Hmph," Naruto went, wrapping his arm around the longer one around his waist as he leaned back against the firm chest and slowly drifted off into a sun-warmed sleep.

 **Phew finally 2 chapter's done!! I hope you guys love it! See you next time!** **Ja ne!**


	15. Naruto & Kakashi

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC. (Except my Hinata of course #Evil Laugh)**

 **Thank you with all my heart for all of you who still followin' my fanfiction.**

Left, duck, right, jump, NOW! Naruto's fist lunged itself at Tehiro's chin, making the boy fly backwards and roll into a tree.

The blonde whiped at some of the blood that trickled down a cut on his cheek while panting heavily.

"You're going to be sorry about that, Uzumaki!" Tehiro shouted out. "You're gonna' wish you were never born! Though.. you never were, were you? You were CREATED 'cos you're a MONSTER!"

Naruto just stood there, facing the gravel beneath his feet while taking deep, well-deserved breaths.

Tehiro charged at him with two kunai in each hand. The brunette ducked and tried to swing a kick at Naruto, but Naruto jumped. Tehiro took this as his chance to throw one of his kunai at the jinchuuriki, and succeeded. The blonde gasped as he felt the knife plunge into his chest and smacked against the academy wall. Nevertheless, Naruto stood back up again and pulled the kunai out of his flesh, claiming it as his own weapon. Blood splattered all over the ground as Tehiro threw two more kunai at Naruto. Seeing as Naruto couldn't jump backwards nor forwards 'cos he was stuck between the academy and his attacker, and the kunai were flung toward both his left and right side, Naruto decided to duck.

It was the only option he had, and this had worse consequences. Tehiro pulled out four shuriken and lunged them toward Naruto; who took the full blow. Blood seeped through the blonde's clothes, but he still stood back up again. The brunette grinned and slowly walked over to Naruto.

"You're persistent, aren't you, Kyuubi-boy?"

Apparently, Tehiro had been briefed on the whole Kyuubi-subject by his brother. His parents were killed by the Kyuubi when he was very young. His brother had left on a month-long mission and Tehiro chose this time to take his frustration out on Naruto, who he blamed for his loneliness and the fact that there was nobody to come home to.

"You're more exciting than I thought you would be," the brunette smirked whilst twirling his last remaining kunai around his finger.

Naruto looked up, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. He didn't want to fight. He didn't want to solve problems with violence. But if that was what Tehiro was going to do, he would have no other choice.

"Back off," he growled. This definitely wasn't Naruto's voice.

All the children watching the fight stepped back, intimidated and terrified. The circle they'd created around Tehiro and Naruto expanded as they pushed themselves against the bodies of the ones standing behind them.

Tehiro's eyes grew wider with shock, but when he grinned they returned back to normal size. "See? Told you you were no more than a monster."

Fangs suddenly grew over Naruto's bloody lips and the boy fell to his knees before stretching out like a puma with large claws scritting at the sandy ground beneath him. A red aura around the blonde screamed something of a killer intent and when Naruto looked up into Tehiro's eyes, the brunette was trapped in the dark crimson orbs. If looks could kill, Tehiro would've been burned to the ground on the spot.

Some of the girls in the crowd shrieked, running away into the academy to get help. Chuunin started filing out of the school, hastily trying to find the culprit for all the panic.

"Naruto!" Iruka suddenly called out to the crimson-eyed boy.

The young fox-form turned its head toward the Chuunin, slowly turning around to face the instructor. A low growl rumbled in the blonde's chest before he planted his claws firmly in the ground and roared at the older man.

The sound alone struck the vieuwers' ears and the impact of the chakra that was released in the roar broke off bits of treebark and concrete before sending them flying across the Village.

And just when the Kyuubified boy was ready to lunge himself at the surrounding people, a little slip of paper with a seal on it was pressed against the back of his head and pulled the demonic red chakra aura off the blonde's skin. Slowly but surely, the claws and fangs retracted and the boy returned to his previous, original state. His tired, baggy eyes slowly shut as he fell forwards. Just before his face collided with the ground, a certain jounin caught him and slung him over his shoulder.

"Iruka-san, ANBU will be here soon to take care of this problem; you may want to leave," the jounin smiled his famous eye-smile before disppearing and leaving behind a puff of smoke.

 **At the jounin's home**

Naruto awoke with shut eyes. He could hear ripping and shredding, then he could feel something wet and cold burn and sear at his body before being whiped away softly and replaced by a strip of bandaging. He cracked open one azure eye, to find the world smudgy and triple-visioned. After the three heads infront of him retracted to one, Naruto identified the man as his guardian, Hatake Kakashi.

"What happened?" he asked groggily.

"Hmm?" the jounin raised a brow.

Naruto gazed down at his body, taking in the sight of his scarred chest and the bandages attached to it.

"What're you doin'?" the blonde asked, stopping the hand that was busy rubbing alcohol on one of his wounds. Apparently, that was the burning sting he'd felt earlier.

"That kid really beat you up pretty bad. And now I'm not talking about the shuriken that I had to pull out of your skin. How many punches and kicks have you willingly taken?"

Naruto just gave his guardian a confused look before trying to stand. It hurt, but it wasn't anything he couldn't manage.

"I suggest you take it easy for a while. You're gonna' have to go through some more pain soon."

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"The ANBU have gone to the academy to undo what just happened and screw with the heads of all those who witnessed the incident."

"So... they're going to take away their memories?"

"Just those of recent events."

"How?"

"Ibiki has his techniques.."

"And why does that have anything to do with me?" the blonde asked.

"Well, they may be at the academy now, but soon they'll come knocking on our door. They want to try and re-seal the seal that keeps the Kyuubi in check."

"But... do they know how?" Naruto actually didn't really care about that part. He just wanted to keep asking questions, trying to find a way to get out of it.

"Their sealing may not be as great as the Yondaime's, but they do a fair job sealing such things," Kakashi replied, opening his book and slouching down on the couch indifferently.

"Is it legal?" Naruto suddenly spat out, frowning.

His guardian chuckled, "Of course it is."

"Doesn't sound like it to me.." the blonde mumbled, pulling his black shirt back over his head.

"Watch it, your stitches may open."

"...I think they already did..."

The jounin rolled his eyes. Naruto smiled sheepishly but before he could explain there was some loud knocking on the door. The Jinchuuriki looked up immediatly and backed away into the kitchen. "Relax, Naruto," his guardian said before opening the door.

Five ANBU ninja, all organised into their uniforms with their own personal masks, stood at the front-door. "We're here for the sealing," one of them spoke without one hint of anger or fear or pretty much any emotion.

"Yes. I know," Kakashi replied, stepping aside to let them in.

They immediatly went to the kitchen, getting straight into action when they saw their goal.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are to show us your seal mark and allow us to seal it."

"U-u-uhm, I- I don't really think that's necessary.." the blonde boy replied, backing up even more. When he bumped against a body, he turned his head in an instant, fearing that he collided with an ANBU nin. When he saw it was Kakashi, his large, frightened eyes shrank back to a normal size, but when the silverhaired jounin seized the bottom of his T-shirt and lifted it off and over his head, he rethought his position of enemy/ally.

The ex-ANBU wrapped one arm around the blonde's waist, straddling him tightly. The other arm was placed a little higher, blocking all movement of the Jinchuuriki's arms and holding his chest back against his own.

"K-Kakashi, what're you-" but before he could finish the sentence there was an intense, burning pain in his gut and a flash of blueish light illuminating the room.

A cry of pain and hysterical tugging at restraining arms, but the ANBU just continued.

"Ssshht, it'll be over soon.." the kid's guardian tried to calm him.

But the demon inside Naruto roared, forcing the enemy chakra back and pushing its own chakra against the seal. There was no way it was just going to let these ANBU lock him up again.

"I'm going to have to pour in more chakra. This isn't going to be pretty, though," the ANBU warned Kakashi.

Said man nodded and quickly ran a hand through the straddled boy's blonde locks, brought his mouth near the 10-year-old's ear and muttered, "Just a little longer."

The child grit his teeth, swallowing nervously but nodding.

The arms tightened a little harder and the blue light filled the room oncemore, only brighter and stronger.

Another scream, expressing the torturing pain, but the ANBU didn't spare the boy one moment of rest. The excrutiating madness was enough for Naruto to press his fangs into his guardian's arm and piercing the flesh with all his might. There was a sharp noise in the blonde's head, almost like in one of those horror movies when something terribly bad happens. It was only later on that he realised it was the sound of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Suddenly, the light faded and the pain stilled. The ANBU nin pulled his hand off of Naruto's abdomen and the blonde opened his eyes again. Slowly but surely, the taste of blood filled his mouth and Naruto realised it was Kakashi's. He pulled his fangs out of the older man's arm and looked at the bitemark guiltily.

"We shall report to lord Hokage. Make sure this doesn't happen again, Hatake Kakashi."

Said man nodded and turned to the ten-year-old strapped against his chest. It was hard to believe this innocent little thing was the creature he'd seen earlier. It was so unfair to the boy. He had to undergo so much pain for the sake of the village and still they hated him.

The ANBU ninja's disappeared into puffs of smoke at the same time, leaving the silverhaired jounin alone with the blonde pre-Genin.

"You okay?" he asked.

The blue-eyed boy stared at the blood on the jounin's arm, feeling something demonic stir inside of him. A part of him wanted to lick it up, tear it to shreds, and drown in it again.

The boy's guardian noticed the murderous glint in the kid's eyes and he shifted his arm, turning the boy around. Naruto looked up at him shamefully, almost apologetically.

"Come on, we're gonna' have to redo those stitches," the older male said, carrying the boy back to the living room, where he lay him back down on the couch and took out the medical kit again.

Ten minutes of silence before Naruto softly spoke, "Kakashi...?"

"Hmm?" the jounin kept his eyes fixed on his work.

"Are you... in trouble?"

"Nahh.."

"Am I in trouble?"

"Well I think maybe Iruka-sensei isn't too pleased with you," the jounin gently pinched his side, "but aside from that you're fine."

Naruto smiled softly, but winced when the jounin poked through his skin with a sharp little needle for the nth time. "It's enough, Kakashi, Kyuubi will heal me."

"Not anymore, it won't."

"What do you mean?"

"The Kyuubi has been re-sealed, Naruto, it won't heal you the way it used to."

"So... What just happened with Tehiro..."

"Will not happen again," the guardian replied, "but no, you will not be able to sleep it off anymore."

"And.. those shuriken..."

"What happened, happened. It's already healed. But the next couple of weeks are gonna' be more painful than they normally are."

"So... Tehiro and I aren't going to be able to settle the score?"

"Seriously, Naruto?! You just suffered all that pain and you still want to go through it again?!"

"Well, I figured that if the Kyuubi has been re-sealed, I may be able to kick his ass."

"You could KILL him with the Kyuubi. Honestly, you've felt that murderous killer intent. It's not like you. It doesn't suit you."

"But kicking asses does."

"So why'd you let him kick your ass?"

"... I didn't let him."

"Naruto, I'd say I'm no expert, but I am. And I know what it looks like when you don't even try to block an attack. You might've tried to avoid the shuriken and kunai, but you took pretty much every punch or kick the kid launched at you."

"Why the heck would I do that?"

"'Cos you weren't expecting this to happen. You didn't expect me to show up on the scene. You thought you were coming home with maybe one cut but more bruises than bloody wounds. You could tell me you just tripped, after all. And God, have you been tripping a LOT lately!"

"I'm not a masochist, Kakashi."

"True, but you are the kind of person to accept punishment for your crimes."

Naruto blew a stray blonde lock out of his face and folded his arms as he looked the other way, out the window.

"Listen, Naruto, whatever happened to that brunette kid's parents has nothing to do with you," he placed a hand firmly on the boy's head, "that's long gone."

Naruto wasn't convinced, but nodded anyway. Kakashi could tell though, that his blonde was going to find the deeper truth to everything. Or at least try.

"Tell you what," Kakashi suddenly started, "if you go back and finish your hours at the academy, I'll take you out for Ramen. How 'bout that?"

Naruto didn't feel like going back to the academy at all. He didn't feel like having Ramen, either. All he wanted to do right now was beat Tehiro's face into his skull. Nevertheless, he smiled faintly and nodded.

"Good." Kakashi nodded back curtly, sitting down on the couch aswell and adjusting the blonde's body 'till he was on his back and standing back up again.

 **On the way to the academy**

"Does Iruka-sensei remember what happened?" Naruto suddenly broke the silence that had dragged on for minutes before.

"If he got away before the ANBU arrived, he does," Kakashi replied, making his hold on the blonde a little more comfortable by shifting him a little higher.

The blue-eyed boy almost never got a piggy-back ride from the jounin, and though it would've embarressed him normally, right now he liked the way the silverhaired man was putting a distance between him and what was ahead. He was his wall. His rock. In the end, it was, and always has been, Kakashi who protected the boy.

"I can walk by myself, Kakashi," the blonde suddenly stated, pulling his legs out of the man's hooked arms and sliding down his back until his feet touched the ground. The feeling of standing on his own two independant feet made him believe he was stronger, but the loss of his wall wasn't an experience Naruto enjoyed. Nevertheless, he was ten, and ten-year-old's don't get carried around by their parents anymore.

"Okay," the jounin simply said, pulling out his orange novel and flipping through the pages until he reached the spot he marked with a little paper.

"And I can manage coming home by myself later, too."

"If you think so."

"And Asuma-sensei doesn't have to drop by when you leave on your mission next week."

"Alright."

"And Iruka-sensei doesn't have to keep me late after school when you're gone."

"Okay."

"An' he doesn't have to check my homework, either."

"If you insist."

"I do."

"Alright."

The academy came into vieuw and Naruto could see Iruka-sensei standing at the blackboard through the window already.

"Okay, see ya'," the pre-Genin waved at his guardian, but the man pulled him back and turned with his back to the window, shielding the blonde from the looks of the kids looking outside. He hunched down 'till he was at the same hight as the boy and put a hand on the back of the jinchuuriki's head, pulling him closer and quickly brushing his masked lips over the blonde's forehead.

"Have fun," he muttered before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

Naruto just stood there, flustered. Half a minute later, he collected himself and whiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Damn that man, treating me like a little kid," he mumbled. Deep inside he was happy to have someone who cared about him, but the outer side of him wanted to grow up and become a strong shinobi; one that was independant and strong and managed well on his own.

When he entered his class, all eyes were on him. Some kids laughed, saying stuff like, "The idiot's late!" or "Weird how Sasuke only entered the class a minute ago, I wonder what the two of them were doing!" Even Sasuke's fangirls were giggling over that comment. The raven pretended like he hadn't heard a thing, gazing outside through the window. Naruto balled his fists, but turned to Iruka-sensei nevertheless.

"Sorry I'm late, sensei, I overslept," he apologised.

"It's alright, Naruto, just make sure it doesn't happen again. Now go to your seat."

He sat down beside some Sasuke-fangirl, since it was the only vacant spot left. The girl shuffled her chair away from him as though he had some kind of disease. She pulled her sleeves over her hands like his "cold aura" chilled her and pinched her nose while turning to her friend, giggling.

Naruto just huffed and rested his chin on his palm angrily. During the whole class his eyes remained fixated on the clock, waiting 'till the remains of the day was over.

 **After Class**

"Naruto, can I speak with you?" Iruka called out to the blonde as kids were filing out of the classroom. Sasuke gazed at the boy's back as his classmate sulked his way over to his sensei, but when Iruka gave Sasuke a look of, "Why are you even trying to find out what I'm about to say when you know I'm going to ask you to leave anyway?", he quickly slung his backpack over his shoulder and left the academy aswell.

"Naruto, I just wanted to tell you the kids don't remember what happened anymore."

"But you do?"

"Yes, I do. Listen, Naruto.." he hunched down infront of the blonde.. "I know it's hard being the way you are and all, and I understand that you get angry very fast, but please try to keep your temper under control, okay?"

Naruto nodded. Once again, his strict older brother had put him in his place. Iruka had always been that kind of person to Naruto: a big brother. The kind that looked out for him, but also told him of his flaws and what he should work at. In a way he depended on Iruka to tell him how he should improve, but he also depended on the man when Kakashi was gone. Because once the jounin left, the chuunin was all Naruto had.

"Don't worry sensei, it won't happen again."

"Alright," the brunette teacher wrapped an arm around the blonde's back and embraced him. "Tell you what, I'll finish grading these papers and we can go out for Ramen."

"Sorry, sensei, Kakashi's already taking me out tonight. But if you want, you can come along?"

Iruka smiled when he heard the Jounin was taking Naruto out. "Oh, that's alright. You go ahead!" And he sincerely meant it; he wanted Kakashi to have some time with the Jinchuuriki to settle things out. He feared the ANBU hadn't taken care of everything yet, and he didn't want another show like that around the academy again. The mere aura the Kyuubi radiated turned Iruka's chakra pale. But Naruto's smile made up for it all.

"Alright, see you, Iruka-sensei!" the boy called, grinning as he left the academy.

Iruka just hoped the boy was as unbreakable as he lead them all to believe he was.

Outside the academy, a man in jounin attire sat perched on a swing, reading an orange clad book.

"Kakashi," Naruto sighed, "didn't I just say I'd come home on my own?"

"Figured it was easier this way," the man with silver hair shrugged, "we can go straight to Ichiraku's."

"About that," Naruto blew a lock of blonde hair out of his face, "I'm really not that hungry."

Kakashi immediatly dropped his book, but caught it just before it hit the ground. "What? YOU? You're always hungry! And it's Ramen!" the man uttered, surprised.

"Mmhmm..." Naruto looked up at the leaves blowing in the wind, having seperated themselves from the big tree the swing hung on. Independant, green leaves.

"Are you sick or something?" in one swift movement, the swing was abandoned and Kakashi was on one knee infront of the boy, holding a hand against his forehead.

"No, my stomach just hurts..."

Ah, the jounin instantly understood. The seal was still burning from the sealing the ANBU had performed earlier. And ofcourse the Kyuubi was taking its anger out on poor Naruto, who didn't know any better.

The indifferent-looking man slid a hand underneath the youngster's T-shirt and placed his fingers on the seal, earning a wince of pain from the blonde. The flesh was raw and the area around the seal extremely sensitive. Naruto put his hands on the man's arm, trying to push him away, but to no avail. The man was too busy inspecting the markings on the boy's abdomen to actually notice his refusal and discomfort, anyway.

"Hmmm..." the man hummed, deep in thought as he applied pressure to certain areas on the seal.

The blue-eyed boy scrunched away, but the man merely followed. He didn't say a word as he worked on whatever he was doing with the seal, and it was annoying Naruto. The blonde didn't let go of the man's arm, still trying his best to push him away, but the jounin was stronger. When Kakashi saw the look on the boy's face, he curved his eye up into a small smile and tickled at the sensitive skin for a second, just to get a smile back on the youngster's facade. When he got what he wanted, he continued inspecting the markings.

Naruto forced his short giggle to stop, angry at the fact that he just got tickled. But the pain he felt when Kakashi's fingertips applied pressure on the seal again made up for it. In a way...

"There," the silver-haired man said, tapping the center of the seal with his index finger. Naruto gasped, tightening his grip on the jounin's arm and pressing his fingernails into the man's sleeve, hoping the guy felt it through the black fabric. He gave Kakashi a cold glare and in return, the jounin laughed guiltily and decided to try the tickling trick again.

It worked. The younger boy giggled in a childish way, trying to push away the older man's arm as he blushed cutely (angrily embaressedly). But this wasn't what he wanted at all. He didn't want to laugh. He didn't want to giggle. And he most definitely didn't want to get tickled!

"Stop it!" Naruto demanded, still gurgling with 'pleasure'. At least, it seemed like it to the silver-haired man.

The man stopped like the pre-Genin desired and smiled behind his mask as the blonde took deep breaths. "Feel like getting Ramen yet?" he asked.

"I told you; NO." And with that, the blue-eyed boy 'stomped' back home, angry like shit. Kakashi was confused and gazed at the blonde's back for a while, but stood up soon after and strolled after him.

Despite the signals the kid was sending him, he still scooped the boy up and carried him on his back like he did earlier.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I can walk by myself, Kakashi!"

"I know you can, but I walk faster."

"So I'll run!"

"I'd still be faster."

"Yeah right!"

"Sorry kiddo, my legs are just that much longer than yours."

Naruto sighed and tried to push away from the man, but wound up hanging upside-down recklessly, his knees still buckled in the hooks made of Kakashi's arms. "Great," he muttered sarcastically.

"Alright," Kakashi released the boy like he were a bag of potatoes and continued walking. Naruto fell on the ground, but stood up immediatly and caught up to the jounin. Kakashi was right about the walking bit. The jounin was way faster than the pre-Genin and Naruto had to walk pretty quickly to keep up with the man. And it wasn't like the guy was even trying to walk any faster than he usually did.

 **At home**

Naruto settled himself on the couch and quickly flipped his hand through the pages of the TV-guide. Ah, so House would be on tonight! Perfect, he loved House! He clicked on the TV and searched for the right station. Damn. He'd already seen this episode. Oh well, he could see it again!

Kakashi sat down on the couch beside him, burrying his nose in his orange book and flinging an arm over the backrest leisurely. When the jounin lifted his gaze to the TV-screen for a moment, he realised Naruto had seen this episode countless of times before (they have some of the DVD-boxes and this episode displayed itself on their TV-screen only a week ago). He glanced sideways, at the blue-eyed boy, realising he didn't do what he normally did when watching an episode he'd seen plenty of times before. Normally he'd lip-sync the words they were about to say, proud that he still remembered every last bit of the episode. Now he just sat there, focusing on Foreman's angry expression. When 13 walked away, Naruto reached for the clicker and turned the TV off again, sighing.

"What's up?" Kakashi asked, not even looking at the boy.

"Nothing," Naruto replied with an expression that read "not like I'd tell you if anything were up".

"Oh, come on.." the jounin skillfully moved closer to him, smiling his famous eye-smile as Naruto just edged further away.

"Is it the seal, again?" the older male asked, slipping his hand back under the blonde's T-shirt.

"N-no!" the jinchuuriki replied hastily, shuddering at the jounin's cold fingertips on his sensitive skin.

"You sure?" the man was about to skid his fingertips back and forth on the boy's abdomen again, as he'd done before, but Naruto wasn't in for more giggling and stood up quickly.

"Positive!"

"So your stomach's absolutely fine?"

"Absolutely!"

"Good 'cos I think we've still got some instant ramen in the cupboard," the jounin smirked.

That traicherous bastard, Naruto thought, of course he'd come up with an idea like that.

Kakashi grinned as he stood up and headed toward the kitchen to make the boy some dinner. He wasn't really one for the noodles and soup, but didn't see a problem with it either, so pulled out a cup for himself aswell. He placed both cups in the microwave, figuring it'd work just the same.

"Two minutes," he called over the steamy sounds of the microwave to Naruto.

The boy sighed in reply, getting up and trotting over to the bathroom...

 **Two minutes later**

"Miso or Pork?" (forgive me if it's the same thing, I'm not well-informed on the stuff)

Naruto shrugged, "Whatever you don't want," he replied.

The man didn't mind either, so he held out both cups to the boy. Naruto sighed for the nth time and just took the one that appeared to have less in it – not like it actually did.

As the steam rose tot he ceiling, the jinchuuriki stared at the noodles in the cup absently. He was thinking about a certain person in his class. He honestly didn't have a clue why, but the thought just suddenly poofed up.

"What's wrong?" the jounin on his left asked, after having lifted his mask back up and tossing away the empty cup.

"Nuthin'.."

"Need help?" Kakashi chuckled, mocking the young boy.

"No!" the flustered little pre-genin replied instantly. "I was just..thinking."

"About?"

"Someone."

"Someone close to you?"

"Not really."

"Someone you like?"

"Not really, actually."

"Someone you hate?"

"Neither."

"Someone... important?"

"I guess. Not to me, though."

"To who then?"

"His fangirls."

"Let me guess... is it Sasuke-bastard?" Kakashi smirked behind his mask. The man picked up the boy's untouched chopsticks and snapped them for him.

"Yeah. I was just wondering... what does he do every night, on his own, in his big house?"

"Hmmm..." Kakashi went, showing that he was thinking about it as he gathered a couple of short noodles between the wooden sticks and brought them over toward the youngster's mouth.

"Don't," the blue-eyed boy snarled.

"Open up," the jounin lured, but the blonde wasn't falling for it.

He kept his mouth firmly shut and crossed his arms, thinking, "what the heck does this guy think he's doing?!"

Kakashi sighed, grabbing the boy's jaw and lightly pinching it until his mouth was forced open. He then place the noodles inside of the chamber and let go with his other hand. The pre-Genin was furious, to say the least. He quickly swallowed so he could yell at the older man, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!! I'm 10, okay?!!"

"Oh shush," Kakashi replied, "the way you're acting is like a two-year-old. Not eating won't get you any more attention. Or no, it will, but only this kind. I'm only treating you according to your behavior."

"And I suppose being angry at you suddenly makes me a toddler?!"

"So you are angry at me." Kakashi seemed like he was pleased with himself for wiggling this information off the youngster.

"Yeah! I'm sick and tired of you treating me like a kid! Ever since this morning you've been acting strange!"

Naruto hadn't missed it; how his guardian acted more careful and caring around him after the incident with the Kyuubi. What he didn't know, though, was that the man thought he'd lost control 'cos there was too much hate and too little love.

The blonde hopped off of the high barstool he sat on and walked away to his bedroom calmly. Despite his easy-looking attitude, though, the hard slam of the door was enough for Kakashi to nearly drop the cup o' noodles. The jounin sighed and rubbed at his hitai-ate over his sharingan eye.

"I never know with this lad..." he muttered before standing up and heading over to the jinchuuriki's room. He had to admit the part with the chopsticks had gone a little overboard. But the way Naruto was acting all angsty made him want to put the boy in his place; the one that suited him so well. The one that said "I'm human, too! I'm not a monster! Like me!"

He knocked on the boy's door, but when there was no answer, he just opened the door. Naruto knew the man would come in anyway, so he hadn't bothered even replying. Instead, he just lay on his bed with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. His black T-shirt with orange swirls on the back was scrunched up a little and revealed the lower part of the seal on the blonde's abdomen.

The bed was big enough for the older man to hop down beside him and lean his chin on his palm as he inspected the youngster's expression. Naruto didn't say a word, trying to show that he was the better man. Unfortunately, Kakashi was more of the silent guy and the boy was having second-thoughts on the whole silence-thing.

Slowly, a gloved hand reached over to his abdomen and Naruto's hand immediatly snapped around the man's wrist, stopping him. Kakashi's eye curved up in pleasure as his fingertips reached the seal and wiggled back and forth lightly. The boy couldn't stop himself and soon after loud laughter filled his room. Giggles similar to the ones from years ago bursted out of the blonde's venter and filled Kakashi's with warm chitters.

Naruto tried to stop laughing, he really did. And not because he was afraid he'd come short of breath, but just because he hated being tickled. He used to like it, but now that he started his double-digits, he should be doing more productive stuff with his time. He could've been learning new techniques right now! Not that anyone besides Kakashi would teach him...

The blonde gurgled despite himself, and this was the point where Naruto decided this had to stop. He tried biting down on his lip as hard as he could, chuckles escaping now and then, but he didn't giggle hysterically anymore. Unfortunately, Kakashi had found out he liked the sound of Naruto's embaressment and once the boy had released his arm weakly, his fingers played his seal like a piano.

This was worse than what the ANBU did with him, Naruto decided. He tried to kick the jounin away, but the man just grabbed his ankle and switched to tickling his foot. Tears of "joy" leaked from the jinchuuriki's eyes as he rolled over.

"Now that I think about it, Naruto," the silver-haired man suddenly said, moving back to the seal, which was more sensitive, "whatever Sasuke's doing, it's not nearly as fun as this, even with his fangirls."

Okay, so he didn't hate tickling. But he just didn't like the embaressment that came with it. He didn't like the babyish giggles produced from the pit of his stomach and he didn't like the blush on his cheeks or the dimples when he laughed real hard.

"S-s-sto-op!" he shrieked, grabbing hold of the jounin's hands. He was still giggling even after the man had stopped, and the ex-ANBU watched him with happily curved eyes.

"You know I hope Tehiro and you settle this thing. Or I might just try it again," the jounin warned, briskly running his index finger over the seal. The blonde chuckled shortly and grabbed his hand again. He was still taking breaths from being tickled non-stop.

"Perhaps I should tell Iruka about my newfound trick..." Kakashi pondered out-loud.

Naruto immediatly shook his head. "NEVER! DON'T YOU DARE! It's bad enough you do it!"

"Oh come on, you like it," the jounin repeated what he'd done before and a gurgling sound erupted from the jinchuuriki's throat. He pulled his shirt down as far as it would go, stretching it all the way to his knees.

"Wow, relax, I won't do it anymore.." Kakashi smiled softly.

"If you dare tell anyone--" Naruto threatened, but when the older man found a new spot to let his fingertips go wild in the youngster's soft-fleshed armpits, the boy was interrupted abruptly.

"You sure let your guard down, huh?" the Genin-instructor teased, "Come on, Naruto, show your ninja skills!"

The jinchuuriki was fed up and just spit right in Kakashi's face. When the jounin blinked and tried to get the saliva out of his eyes, releasing the blonde, he bit the jounin's arm and slid his little hands underneath the black jounin sweater and tickled the older, flexer and more scarred body.

The silver-haired man laughed and collapsed on the bed, turning around so the blue-eyed boy didn't wind up underneath him. The demon-host grinned maliciously and he let his fingertips do to the jounin what the man had just done to him earlier.

Kakashi's laugh was much more mature and throatier, but it still had a pleasant edge to it. It was the kind of laugh you didn't hear much because it just didn't happen often that the man laughed. There was no big explanation for it, just the loss of people and the murdering of others and all those other daily-basis problems ninja of his level deal with.

Unfortunately the laughing stopped soon, because unlike the little boy, Kakashi had flexed biceps and he could easily lift the boy off of him. He sighed a content sigh as he replaced his position by the saphire-orbed kid and pulled little pyjamas out from under the pillow.

"Huh?" Naruto went, looking at the clock. ' 22.08 PM ' it flashed.

"Well then..." the jounin breathed, "I believe we've had enough fun to last two weeks."

"How do you mean?" the blonde asked as the older man removed his T-shirt and replaced it by the long-sleeved red turtle-neck. Naruto feared the man would hesitate to skid his fingertips over his seal again, but the man thankfully didn't.

"Well, I'm gonna' be gone for two weeks," Kakashi explained himself as Naruto removed his shorts underneath the covers and tossed them onto a chair in the corner. It wasn't like he was embarressed, 'cos he was wearing boxers at least as long as his shorts underneath, but the privacy between them was like an unbreakable wall, and Naruto appreciated that.

"I thought the mission was gonna' take three days," Naruto exclaimed.

"Nope. But you can last fourteen without me, right?"

So perhaps that's why the man was acting that way before. Maybe he thought that if he just left after what happened with the Kyuubi and the pain Naruto went through, the boy would be even more scarred. God, he picked a stupid way to show his love and appreciation, though!

"Kakashi, you do know that if you'd just told me you're going to miss me before you left, it'd mean just as much to me as this whole day, right?"

The jounin froze in place. For a moment he seemed like he wanted to swat himself in the face, but he shook that expression away immediatly. "Yeah, but this is more spectacular, isn't it?" the man asked, turning his head back in the blonde's direction.

"Sure.. I guess.." Naruto didn't mean a word of it, but just lay down and pretended he did, anyway.

The ex-anbu switched off the light and shut the door after a quiet, "Goodnight, Naruto."

He went into his room, packing up his ninja equipment and all the things he'd need for the mission. He sighed. No, Naruto, today wasn't because I'm afraid you'll think I didn't care... Today was because despite your age, I wanted to make sure that it happened at least once... When you were younger, you never let me, either. But now, with this S-rank mission... If I die, please remember me, Naruto. Remember the fun we had, and eventhough the house may be as empty as Sasuke's... we enjoyed ourselves, right? Remember it... Your seal has been re-set again. The Kyuubi shouldn't be showing its face any time soon. Ain't I a good dad? So even when your legs grow long enough to keep up with mine, remember what I mean to you. Because the angst and sorrow Sasuke carries around is nothing for you. It doesn't suit you. If you lose me, be happy about what we had. Don't go taking revenge on the guys that killed me. I did this for the village. For your village. 'Cos you're going to be the Hokage. I believe in you, Naruto.

And with that, the high-class ex-anbu nin disappeared into the night.

Somewhere around 2 AM, Naruto stirred in his sleep.

 **2 weeks later**

Naruto was sitting at the window. Iruka-sensei was sitting at the kitchen table, putting aside a stack of papers for a moment so he could check Naruto's homework.

The blonde just sat there, fidgeting with one of the pockets on his beige shorts. He kept waiting for the silver haired man to return, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Sensei, where's Kakashi?" he asked at 20.00 o'clock.

"Hmm.. I'd say he's running late," the brunette replied as he walked over to the blonde with a soft brush.

"Argh! Not again!" the azure-eyed boy glared daggers at the thing in the Chuunin's hand. The academy teacher laughed guiltily and scratched at the scar across his nose. "Sorry, Naruto-kun, Kakashi-san's orders!"

Naruto huffed and settled himself back down on the windowsill as the older man ran the brush through his blonde locks. Kakashi never made me do this... why now? he thought.

 **The day after that**

The demon-host was still sitting at the windowsill when Iruka-sensei came back from the academy. He'd seen Naruto at the windowsill, so he decided he should use the key Kakashi had given him because the jounin wasn't home yet.

"Naruto, where were you?" Iruka asked. Since the brunette had to be at the academy earlier than the blonde and Naruto had gotten tired of waiting around in the school for an extra hour, he let the boy come a little later than him. But the kid never even shower up!

"I figured I should wait at home," the ten-year-old replied grimly.

"Don't worry, he'll come," his sensei reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder and smiling down at the jinchuuriki. "Come, I'll make you some ramen."

 **The day after that**

3:00 AM. Naruto hadn't gone to bed last night. When he turned to see Iruka asleep on the couch, he decided there was no use in going to bed anyway since the man wasn't going to scold him for being up.

4:46 AM. The blonde was fast asleep, with his hair tousled against the glass window.

6:30 AM. Iruka woke up and clicked the alarm on his watch off. He took in the sight of a little blonde on the windowsill, leaning his head against the window, fast asleep. He gently smiled and nudged Naruto's shoulder. "Come on, Naruto-kun, time to wake up."

"Oh come on, Kakashi.. you're never on time, either.." the boy mumbled.

It almost felt like a hand clenched at the Chuunin's heart. He really wanted the silver-haired jounin to come back soon. Before Naruto lost all hope in him.

"Come on," Iruka grunted as he picked the growing boy up and carried him over to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

 **The next day**

Iruka noticed how unusually quiet Naruto was during class and how even in the academy the boy was gazing outside, in the hope of finding a wild patch of spiky silver hair. During lunch, when it was Iruka's turn to watch the youngsters, he'd noticed how the blonde barely touched his food and used this time to stare outside again, though there was no way Kakashi would suddenly appear in the little, abandoned yard behind the academy. When school hours were finally over, the Chuunin gathered his things, calling Naruto's name several times, but getting to respond. When he looked up from packing his briefcase in, he realised the boy had fallen asleep with his face still turned to the window.

He carried the blonde home that day.

When he opened the door and Naruto woke up again, the first thing he did was head to his usual spot at the windowsill. No sign of the jounin, though.

The boy stayed up all through the night, but there was no Kakashi.

 **The next day**

The academy had been just the same as the previous day, only Naruto was awake for the last bit. He'd been even less enthousiastic during the day though, something Iruka had thought wasn't possible.

When the cup of ramen in the boy's hands remained untouched, Iruka began to really worry. The jounin was four days late! Where the heck was he ?!

Iruka tried to pry Naruto into his bed that night, but the blonde declined and remained where he was; at the windowsill.

"Come on, Naru-kun, it's really bad for your neck."

"No.." the boy murmured, removing the Chuunin's hands from his shoulders and gazing outside again. Iruka sighed, but complied, and brought the boy a blanket. The brunette then settled himself on the couch again and fell asleep soon after.

Naruto kept searching for his guardian, even if the dimly-lit streets were lonely and quiet. He placed a hand on the seal on his abdomen as his eyes filled with tears. He caught himself rubbing the marks Kakashi had added to the seal and pulled his hand away immediatly. The young boy shut his eyes and leaned against the window again.

 ** _1 AM_**

A dark figure entered the house ever-so-quietly. Even the academy-instructor's ears couldn't detect the light footsteps the person produced on the old parquet.

The figure stopped at the window, bent down on its knees, and let its head hang. Slowly, a hand reached out toward the boy. Shakily, it lifted the kid's black shirt just a little bit before the dirt- and blood-covered hand rested on the blonde's seal, nudging his fingertips on the sensitive flesh a little.

Blue eyes snapped open and took in the sight of a figure stained with wounds, blood, and dirt. Nevertheless, the boy knew immediatly who it was, even in the faint moonlight. Naruto flung himself toward his silver-haired guardian and huddled close to his wounded chest.

Kakashi groaned slightly at the pain, but wrapped his arms around the blonde boy anyway. "Miss me?" he asked throatily.

By this time Iruka was awake and watching the sight with a smile.

"Just a bit," the boy muttered into the jounin's chest.

"Sorry I'm late."

~*~*~ The next morning ~*~*~

Iruka had told Kakashi everything, from the moment of his departure to the point that Naruto was sulking around the academy. In the time he was explaining it all to the jounin, Naruto was watching House, lip-syncing every word Wilson said.

"You're lucky, Kakashi."

"Hm? Right, I got back before he broke.."

"No."

The jounin looked up into the brunette's eyes with confusion. The Chuunin smiled warmly.

"He never gave up on you."

~*~*~ Later on ~*~*~

"Bye Iruka, thanks again for everything."

"No problem. We had, er, fun."

Naruto chuckled at the way Iruka-sensei expressed it, but went over to hug the Chuunin anyway. "Thanks, sensei!" he beamed.

"No problemo, kiddo," the chuunin replied, ruffling the soft, blonde locks.

When Iruka was gone and Kakashi shut the door, the two males settled down on the couch again, both doing what they liked best. House and Icha Icha.

Halfway through the show, Naruto made an unexpected move. He leaned against the jounin's arm sleepily.

"I heard you gave Iruka-san a hard time when it came to the brush," the guardian suddenly started.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, that.." Naruto yawned.

"Tired?"

"Mnahh.."

"You should be after not getting a good night's rest for days on end."

"Hmph."

"Did you really sit at the windowsill all day long?"

Naruto burried his face in the ex-ANBU's arm in shame.

Kakashi merely chuckled, though, setting his book down and gently poking the boy's forehead before wrapping an arm around him lazily. "You sure are a handful.." he sighed contently, both falling asleep slowly.

 **Finally! It was very long words I ever m** **ade for this chapter, just for you! I hope you like it.**


	16. Live without him? I guess can't

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC. (Except my Hinata of course #Evil Laugh)**

 **Sorry for delay minna! I hope you understand because I have to take care of my sister. So, I hope you like it and enjoy the show!**

"Naruto, get back here!"

"No! The enemy's right out there! If we're fast, we can-"

"Those guys have nothing to do with the mission! Our mission was to bring mr. Karuki back to Konoha safely. Nothing else, understood?!"

Sakura furrowed her brows with worry. Her hand touched her lip as she watched her sensei grow more irritated than she's ever seen him before. He was right, though. The men that attacked mr. Karuki fled; there was no point in going after them. He was safe in Konoha, and if they ran into the gang again on their way back, they'd just beat them up again. Why go after them now?

"I can beat them! I know I can!" Naruto disagreed.

"I don't give a crap if you can beat them or not! Ninja's follow standard rules, don't let your emotions get out of check. Now get moving."

Kakashi-sensei turned his head to face the two others of the team demandingly. Sasuke and Sakura got into motion immediatly and continued on their way back with mr. Karuki by their side. Naruto, on the other hand, merely blew a too-long blonde lock out of his face and turned around. He was about to move when a hand gripped his upper-arm tightly. Painfully, actually.

"Gah! Let go!" Naruto snapped, aggrevated to bits.

"Listen you annoying little pest, you're gonna' follow my orders, live by my rules, and turn around right now. You got that?" Kakashi growled.

"Bite me."

SMACK.

A moment of silence. Kakashi's eyes were still angry, Sakura's were worried and grief-stricken, Sasuke's were shocked, and Naruto's were amazed. The silverhaired jounin's hand was still in the air, Naruto's face was still turned, the blonde's cheek was still red, and the three companions were still standing there like a bunch of lunatics. The leaves blew in the wind and shadows extended slowly, but nobody moved for at least 10 seconds.

After the wave of shock passed, the jounin's eye, which had grown large with anger and fury, shrank to a normal size before shutting as he took a well-deserved sigh. He dropped his arm to his side and opened his eye to watch Naruto slowly raise his hand to the one that was engraved in his cheek. The size of Kakashi's fingers were red on the boy's whiskermarks, but the jounin didn't regret what he did.

"Move it," the ex-ANBU commanded, and Naruto's feet automatically obeyed. Sakura, Sasuke and mr. Karuki did the same and lead themselves back to the Village. Naruto strayed behind them, and Kakashi behind him to make sure he was still there. He could sense the boy anyway, but still felt like he had everything in control this way.

 **That night**

The team set up their tents in silence. Normally Sakura would have a tent of her own, Sasuke would have one for himself, and Kakashi would be forced to share one with Naruto since only three would fit in the bag and nobody felt like carrying an extra one. Kakashi's would be the biggest tent, though, so neither really minded. And it wasn't like Naruto was getting to sleep in Sasuke's tent, oh no. They'd be arguing all night long, anyway.

Now they had to give one to mr. Karuki, though. So Sakura gave up hers and after a long conversation, she got to share with Sasuke (Could you imagine her face?). There was one more little problem, though. After what had just happened, nobody expected Naruto to set one step closer to Kakashi. He'd been at a safe distance from the man ever since the jounin's hand collided with his face.

It wasn't such a big problem, though. Either Kakashi would guard all night, or Naruto would volunteer to guard through the night. At least, that's what he'd hoped...

"I set up traps all along the campsite, so there shouldn't be any enemies getting one inch close to mr. Karuki or either of you. So you can all sleep in peace, thanks to your good ol' sensei."

"Thank you, sensei," Sakura smiled. She tapped Sasuke's shoulder so the raven would thank him aswell. The Uchiha prodigy smirked and nodded in his master's direction. Kakashi accepted the gratitude and sat down at the fire. The big logs placed around it were still a little soggy, but he didn't mind. The man was secretly expecting a certain blonde-haired child to sit down beside him and sleepily lean his head against his arm affectionately, stating his thanks in the best way he knew. But the boy didn't. The boy hated him.

And that's when regret washed over his body like a cold shower. He didn't mean to hurt him.. he just wanted him to respect his demands and do as he says, like every student is supposed to. He didn't want Naruto to think he was a special case 'cos he lived in the jounin's house. He didn't want Sasuke and Sakura to think he favored the blonde, because he truthfully didn't. He was able to set his emotions aside during a mission and tell the difference between what matters at hands and what matters in the heart.

Naruto joined them at the campfire, but instead of sitting on the log Kakashi sat on, where there was still plenty of room, he pushed himself in beside Sakura. The girl, however much she loved being forced against Sasuke, couldn't stand the awkwardness and stood up before stretching with a loud yawn.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to hit the hay. Goodnight you guys."

"Goodnight Sakura," Kakashi-sensei smiled with his visible eye and the girl took off to her and Sasuke's tent.

"I'm gonna' make sure she doesn't rub her face in my clothes," Sasuke bid his farewell to the remaining men and followed Sakura into their tent.

Mr. Karuki watched the silverhaired man stare at the blonde who was too whatever he was to face his sensei and averted his gaze by staring at the ruby embers in their midst. The guest felt extremely odd in their presence and scratched at his chest before thanking them all for their help and telling them he'd be getting some sleep aswell.

Damn them.. betrayers. Naruto thought, pissed that he was left all alone with his guardian. When he looked up, he noticed that the man was reading his book, and took it as his chance to glare at the team leader. But when the man looked up, feeling that someone's eyes were on him, he looked away quickly, staring at the fire again.

"I'm going to hit the sack. You should get some sleep, too," the man's voice suddenly cut through the silence like a knife.

"I'm not tired," his student's raspy voice replied. It was Kakashi's best tool to know when fatigue overtook the young blonde. Whenever the azure-eyed boy was tired, his voice became raspy like he didn't even put in the effort to clear his throat.

"You should do it anyway."

"Don't feel like it."

He obviously hasn't learned his lesson yet Kakashi mused, smoothening the glove he'd removed before smacking the oblivious blonde earlier.

Said child's eyes were pin-pointed on the glove for a second before he stood up and entered his tent. He took his jacket off and pulled a blanket over his body, all the way up to his face, before moving as far away from the other mat as possible. Underneath the covers, he touched his still burning cheek with his hand, reliving the moment in his head. The eyes his guardian had given him... pure anger... hatred... just like them.

Turns out he didn't belong anywhere after all.

In his mind he relived moments of sorrow and pure resentment. He saw the accusing eyes of the villagers over and over again as they yelled at him over and over again and beat him over and over again before tossing him away like dirt... Over and over and over again.

A hand on his back. His eyes snapped open to find the tent to be darker than before. How long has he been here? What time was it? Were Sasuke and Sakura awake? No. It was too dark. Middle of the night, perhaps? Was there an enemy, then? Should he fight? Were they going to die?

The hand moved up and down his spine as if to reassure him. So there was no enemy. This person wasn't an enemy, either. He wasn't expected to fight and they weren't going to die. But if everyone was okay, why was there a hand on his back?

But then the hand suddenly disappeared. Oh. So there was nothing to worry about, anyway?

He was being pulled up to a sitting position. His body was too weak and tired to sit still by itself, let alone fight against the arms that pulled him upright, so it fell backwards, against a well-known chest. Arms wrapped around him, one of them rubbing his arm as the other rose up to his face. There, an ice-cold thumb stroked the red fingers on his cheek, as though the person knew it was searing with pain.

"Ssshh.. it's alright. Don't cry."

What? Cry? He wasn't crying.

"I'm here. It's alright."

But it already was alright. What was Kakashi saying?

"C'mon.. don't cry."

"I'm not..." but then Naruto noticed how shaky his voice sounded. Breathing appeared to be harder than usual and there were tears staining his cheeks. Why was he crying? He vowed to himself that he'd never cry again, so where were these tears coming from?

Kakashi's white fingers kept smudging his tears away, but for some reason, they just kept on flooding. He couldn't stop them, and he didn't understand why he was crying either. Perhaps because all those years he'd been alone, resented and hated for no apparent reason. And then he'd spent many more years working on the creation of a new bond, a bond with someone who didn't hate him like everybody else. But suddenly that bond cracked and shattered because of him. He did it to himself. It all fell apart right infront of him, because of some stupid words, a flurry of emotions. And it was all his own fault.

"It's okay. I'm right here," Kakashi whispered.

"For how long?" Naruto asked.

"Forever."

"No you're not."

"Of course I am."

"You're angry at me. You hate me. Go ahead, admit it. You think I'm a monster. It's alright, I can take it."

The jounin couldn't believe his ears. Was he hearing this correctly? Was it true that even after all these years of him being a father for the blonde, the boy still believed there was a chance that Kakashi could hate him? Actually hate him? The kid's lived under his roof for 9 years, why would he suddenly detest him?

"It's not because I'm angry with you that I hate you," Kakashi whispered back.

"Don't say 'with' like it changes the sentence... If you're too afraid of dishonoring the Hokage, I can just tell him I want to move out, you know."

Kakashi's thumb stopped stroking his cheek as though he regretted taking the pain away. Was he going to smack him again?

"You idiot," he muttered into the blonde's hair, pressing his forehead against the back of the boy's head.

"Why on earth would I ever wanna' get rid of you?"

"Don't you hate me? It's normal to want me dead when you hate me. It's alright. I get it."

"What the hell are you saying?! Ofcourse I don't HATE you! Ofcourse I don't want you DEAD!"

"It's a normal reaction. I've seen it before. People hate me, so they hurt me. They hurt me because I'm a monster. And everybody hates monsters. Everyone wants monsters to die."

"You're not a monster, Naruto."

"You know... those words used to comfort me... now they're just sounding so repetitive and unconvincing."

Kakashi didn't know what to say. He just stared at the little blonde, trying to find some words that he could spin together and knot into one coherent sentence. But there was no reply to that. How was he to tell the youngster he wasn't a monster if the kid had to hear what a monster he was his entire life? All his life people have been calling him monster, all his life he's been fighting with the Kyuubi, keeping it at bay.

Then suddenly somebody showed up who told him he wasn't a monster. That must've been a surprise to the boy. And he probably swallowed the words like crazy, trying to convince himself Kakashi was right. He probably believed the man the moment he said those words; just because they were the first kind words ever spoken to him.

But how can you live on one sentence?

The insults, the glares, the beatings and the damage from the villagers was enough to have Naruto believe he was a monster. Heck, the seal on his stomach provided enough proof. What more evidence could there be?

"I'm gonna' go to sleep," the blonde muttered before turning around and raising the blanket back up to his face again.

"Mm," was the jounin's unresponsive reply as he lay down himself and turned the other way aswell.

It took a while for the youngest male to fall asleep, but eventually he fell into a frightened, crying slumber. Kakashi heard the soft squeeks and whimpers, but decided to let it be this time. The boy would probably just distance himself from the jounin again anyway. There was no point in trying to comfort him.

Sometimes Kakashi wondered if all the mending he'd performed the past few years ever really had an effect on the blonde. Sometimes he wondered whether the kid was impossible to mend. Sometimes he wondered if the boy was made of shattered glass.

 **The next morning**

Sakura was making sandwiches for the guys as they got themselves ready. Sasuke was brushing his teeth in the river while Naruto packed up the camp. Kakashi was just reading his book underneath the shade of a tree – probably having done all his cleaning up at full-jounin-speed or something likely to that.

When they were all done and on the road again with mr. Karuki, it was like yesterday all over again. Naruto stayed far away from the gang, but Kakashi strayed behind Naruto still. Sakura took this is as her chance to strike a conversation with Sasuke, who, gladly broke the awkward silence by telling Sakura most things weren't her business. Then Sakura changed the subject to mr. Karuki, asking him what he did for a living and how his family was.

Meanwhile, Naruto was rummaging through his backpack, trying to find his waterbottle. He was having trouble walking and searching at the same time, but managed with effort.

Kakashi sighed, reached over his shoulder into his backpack and pulled out his bottle before tossing it to Naruto, who sensed something coming and turned around immediatly to catch it. "Huh?" the blonde asked.

"You forgot it at home," Kakashi told the boy with a slightly demeaning edge to his voice.

Naruto, who took it as "you're an idiot", frowned and tossed it back at his sensei. "I wasn't looking for my waterbottle," he lied.

Kakashi merely shrugged and when his students turned around again, slid his mask down and sipped at the water.

 **Back in Konoha**

The team had left mr. Karuki at his door, politely refusing the kind offer for some tea. After all, everyone wanted to get home to have a shower and put on some clean clothes. As for Naruto, he couldn't wait to go to the ramen stand and help himself to a nice bowl of the steamy goodness. It's all that really kept him positive at the moment.

When the team walked their seperate ways, Naruto and Kakashi were using the silent treatment on each-other. Only, the problem was, Kakashi usually was this silent so he didn't really realise Naruto was doing anything in particular. Naruto, who was still grumpy, ran a hand through his messy hair and muttered,

"I'm gonna' go out for ramen later, with Iruka-sensei."

Kakashi figured the blonde was either asking for permission, or asking if he would join. But apparently it was neither.

"I'm probably gonna' sleep over at his house after."

Naruto wasn't waiting for an, "Okay" or a "That's fine". He was going to do it and that was that.

But this is exactly why Kakashi was deadset against the idea. He didn't have a problem with the blonde being away – no, he enjoyed the peace and quiet occasionally. But the fact that the kid was going to tell him what was going to happen disturbed him.

"You're gonna' have leftovers and then you're going to sleep in your own bed," Kakashi stated matter-of-factly, eyes on his book.

Naruto made a "pfft" sound while rolling his eyes and smirking, knowing that he was going to do what he wanted anyway.

That's it. Enough. Kakashi thought, gripping the boy by the collar of his sweatshirt and dragging him home with big, fast footsteps. All the while, Naruto was trying to yank himself free, but without succes.

The door slammed shut behind them.

Kakashi took the boy by the back of his neck and lead him up the stairs, then guided him to the bathroom, turned on the shower, picked the boy up and placed him on the cold tiles underneath the icy rays of water.

Naruto yelped at the cold, turning around and noticing that Kakashi had turned on the cold water. He knew it wasn't by accident, since his hands were gripped tightly around his arms. About ten seconds later, he pulled the boy back out, removed his soaking jacket and T-shirt before dragging him into his room. The jounin took some dry clothes out of the Genin's cupboard and tossed them on the bed before walking back over to the blonde.

He managed to pull the dark red sleeved top over the shivering blonde's head and onto his body. Turning the boy around, he gave him the trousers and some clean underwear and turned around himself, waiting. When he heard the wet clothes slap onto the floor, he turned back around, picked the boy up, placed him under the covers, made sure he was dry and warm, and left the room with the clothes.

Naruto, who was still processing what had just happened, lay as still as he could manage to get himself. He was shivering, but not because he was cold anymore. He wasn't frightened anymore, either, really. He was just still in shock. After about 10 minutes of tensing his body to get it to lie still, it finally listened and he tried to shut his eyes and fall asleep.

 **Meanwhile**

"You did all you could, Kakashi," the voice on the other line said.

"Mm.. I'm just not so sure," he replied.

"Listen, Kakashi, I've never seen him or heard him act like that, but if he did, it's not because he's meaning to truly hurt somebody. He's just not like that. He doesn't like hurting others. He's doing it for other reasons."

"And what may those reasons be?"

"It could be anything. Maybe he's trying to get all his frustrations from the villagers out and the only person he knows he'll get a reaction from is you. It might just as well be because he's never seen or heard from his real parents and wants to get a parental reaction out of you. Who knows it's just because it's a teenage stage in his life?"

"That doesn't sound like Naruto."

"So scratch that last. Whatever the case, Kakashi, he's not trying to make you upset. He's just trying to have you react to whatever it is he's doing."

"But I don't care if he's trying to upset me or not, I want to know what I have to do about it. And if what I did was good enough."

"I doubt you've heard the end of it... Perhaps you should take him to the K.I.A. stone?"

"What good is gonna' come out of that?"

"Tell him his parents' names are on there."

"I don't know, Iruka."

"Why not? This way he'll be able to connect with them in some way."

"But I can't show him WHERE on the stone they are. I can't tell him their names. I can't even tell him what they fucking looked like!"

Kakashi massaged his forehead in frustration. It killed him that he couldn't even tell the blonde about his parents. It killed him that two wonderful people would soon be forgotten by the villagers and be replaced by the thought of how the Yondaime damned them all with Naruto. That's all that would remain of their memories. And what of Naruto's? Why didn't he get a say in this? He'd just go through life forgetting about them, neglecting the fact that he doesn't even know their names.

"Alright, so maybe the KIA stone was a bad idea."

"Yah.."

"How 'bout you take him out for Ramen? It always works when I do it," Iruka chuckled.

"I guess that might work..."

"Irukaaah... come to beeed..." "In a minute! Anyway, Kakashi, I'm sure it'll work out between the two of you. You're a good father."

"Thanks. See ya."

"Bye."

Click.

The jounin ran a hand through his hair, sighing. He stood up with aching bones and went upstairs tiredly. He wanted to knock on the blonde's door, but realised he wouldn't get a reaction out of him anyway, and opened the door.

"Fuck."

The window was open and the curtains were being blown in every direction by the icy wind.

A quick flicker of hands and some symbols gathered together and a second later five ninja hounds poofed into existence around Kakashi's feet. "Here," he let them sniff at the pillow on Naruto's bed.

"We're looking for Naruto?" Pakkun asked, bewildered.

"Yes. Please find him as soon as you can. He might still be a little wet and it's freezing out."

"Alright."

"Scatter!"

 **Meanwhile**

"Thanks again..." Naruto muttered.

"Stop thanking me, dobe. It's getting annoying."

Naruto didn't even yell something back, like "bastard" or "teme". He just sat on the couch, staring at the tea in his mug.

"Hn. I never thought I'd welcome you into my home."

"How so?" Naruto's eyes were vague as he turned his head to look at his raven teammate with a confused expression on his face.

"N..nevermind," Sasuke was still a little surprised from before. The blonde had knocked on his door until he opened it angrily. His anger had drained from his face, though, the moment he saw the helpless look in Naruto's eyes. "Sakura-chan's at a slumber party..." he'd explained. And, being the kind of person he was, Sasuke let the blonde in and gave him some tea to warm him up. Naruto had thanked him when he got inside, thanked him when he go the tea, thanked him again when he sat down and when Sasuke sat down on the couch on the opposite side of his, he thanked him yet again.

"So why are you here, anyway?" Sasuke asked.

".. Kakashi and I had a change in oppinion."

"So you ran away?" Sasuke smirked. "That sounds like something little kids do when they have an argument."

"There's no point in fighting it out with that man... he's always right. Not that I have something against the fact that he's right. It's just that sometimes I wish I were smarter than that."

"So you wanna' be smart? No offence, but it's too late for that," Sasuke snorted.

"None taken..." was Naruto's gentle reply as he tried sipping at the hot mint brew.

Just then the sound of scratching on the door filled the room. Sasuke stood up, pissed as hell that someone was scratching open his door. "Just wait a minute!" he demanded. The raven sighed and opened the door, but saw nobody. His gaze fell downwards to the doormat, where a brown dog and a white dog sat, wagging their tails.

"Is Naruto here?" the brown dog asked.

Sasuke just stared at the dog, wondering if he should tell it the truth.

"It's alright, Sasuke, I'm coming," Naruto said from in the livingroom.

The brown dog pushed by Sasuke and ran up to the blonde boy. "Naruto, what happened?" the dog asked, probably as curious as Sasuke was.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure? Kakashi seemed like something was bothering him. Besides, it isn't the kind of day nor hour to spend time at a friend's house."

"It's nothing, Pakkun. Don't worry about it."

The white dog suddenly barked and out of the blue a puff of smoke appeared beside it. When the smoke disappeared, Sasuke gazed up at his sensei surprisedly.

"Hello there, Sasuke. Is Naruto by any chance around?" Kakashi asked politely.

"Uh. Yeah. He's coming right now."

"Thanks," Kakashi smiled with his visible eye the way he always did. When the blonde appeared with Pakkun strapped between his arms and chest, the man's eye opened again before tossing the boy a black jounin sweater.

Pakkun caught it for Naruto since the boy's arms were unavailable and Naruto took the sweater from the dog. "Thanks for your help, Sasuke. See ya," he smiled broadly.

Sasuke just stared at his teammate. Never again would he think the smile that graced Naruto's lips was insignificant. He finally understood how fake it truly was.

The boy put his guardian's sweater on and followed him like it was expected of him. Two more dogs suddenly came running toward them and joined them on their walk back home. Neither said a word the whole way.

When the door shut behind the silverhaired man, he walked over to the counter and boiled some water. The dogs gathered around him and his feet, just because they enjoyed keeping him company. The white dog that had called upon Kakashi earlier now rubbed its head against Naruto's leg, begging for a pat on the head, just out of thanks. The dog clearly thought he deserved a "well done" or a "good job" from Naruto. He thought he saved Naruto from some kind of danger.

Naruto stroked the dog's head and scratched it behind its ears.

The jounin set the teacup on the coffeetable before walking over to the Genin and picking him up. He sat back down in the recliner with the boy still in his arms. He gave him the teacup, muttering something of, "Blow, it's hot," before leaning back in the chair and resting his head tiredly.

Naruto just sat there, confused. After a while he started blowing at the tea, doing the only thing that appeared to be clear to him.

After he took a sip, realised it was too hot, and placed it back on the table, Kakashi took one of the boy's wrists and placed it on his chest. Naruto could feel a whicked thump run fast through Kakashi's heart.

The jounin smirked halfheartedly. "D'you feel how crazy it's going?" he asked the blonde.

Naruto nodded gently.

"D'you know what went through my mind when I saw those open windows?"

The boy was silent.

"I swear some might say my hair's grey 'cos of you..." he pulled the boy closer and hid his face in his shoulder. "Don't you ever do that to me again."

Naruto didn't understand. This wasn't like Kakashi. It wasn't like the jounin at all!

"Do you understand?" the man asked, pulling away from the boy.

Naruto merely nodded. Kakashi looked at him as though he expected more of an answer.

"Yes sir..." the jinchuuriki gave in.

The ex-ANBU sighed deeply before standing up and carrying the blonde upstairs. He placed him back in his bed, but this time he didn't smack the door shut or anything like that. This time, he sat down at the foot of the bed with his back turned to the blonde. He sat there for half an hour with his student staring at his back the whole time.

Slowly, cautiously, Naruto crawled out from underneath the covers and over to his sensei. He nudged at the jounin's shoulder, to which the instructor turned around immediatly. The blonde wrapped his arms around his guardian, resting his head against the man's chest sleepily. "I'm sorry.." he whispered.

Behind his mask, Kakashi smiled like it had been the first time he did. He ruffled through the boy's hair, saying, "Same case here."

Naruto grinned. "Apology accepted!"

"Oh, is it now?" the guy with silver hair replied, lightly pinching the boy's side, earning a soft chuckle. He stood up again, pulled the covers over the Genin, and said, "So's yours."

"You know, Kakashi..." Naruto said just before the man turned around. "For what it's worth... I'd rather have one you than both my mom and dad."

Kakashi smiled his famous eye-smile before leaving the room. "'Night, brat." And the door shut.

Later on, when Kakashi ploffed down on his bed, tired from all the stress he'd been through that day, he turned his head toward a picture of his own team when he was younger. He picked it up and gazed at his sensei. "Rather one me than both of his parents, huh? Well, if they were around, I'd bet he wouldn't say that..."

Nevertheless, when the jounin turned around and reran the sentence through his mind, his heart swelled with happiness and pride. He'd done good today, whatever he did. He was, indeed, a good dad.

Suddenly, a fluff of hair tickled his arm and he cracked his eye open, startled.

Throwing the blanket over the younger body, he smiled gently.

"You sure are a handful.." he yawned, letting his arm droop over the form of his adopted son.


	17. Bad decisions

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC. (Except my Hinata of course #Evil Laugh)**

 **Pat123: Thank you for your review!**

 **a person: Lol I did a goodjob then for made you cried. Thank you for review!**

 **Zeroxydeous: Thank you for review. x'D**

 **sultryvoice: You really did understand about that. Thank you for review, sultry.**

Hey, Kyuubi-boy!"

The blonde teenager stopped dead in his tracks.

"Next time you come back from a mission, at least whipe your comrades' blood off your armor!"

It was true there was blood on the boy's armor, but only enemy blood. The fact that some of his suburdinates died had nothing to do with him.

"Go apologise for your existence at Toruno-kun's parents' house, you monster!"

The boy slowly turned around, revealing dark black whiskermarks on his tanned skin.

"Go beg them for forgiveness! Not like you'd get it, you killed their only son!"

The jinchuuriki wanted to tell the angry villager it wasn't his fault, that he didn't kill Toruno. That he cares too much about his friends.

But the demon hosted inside of the boy had different thoughts in mind. Kyuubi was sick and tired of watching the boy get pushed around. Kyuubi wanted action, he wanted revenge, he wanted it NOW. And what Kyuubi says, goes.

After all, who in his right mind, would argue with the most powerful bijuu alive?

The crimson-eyed boy snagged the villager by the throat and mercilessly forced him against a wall in an alley. A long, low grumble rumbled in the blonde's throat as he made eye-contact with the man stuck in his grasp.

"Ack! Mercy!" the villager begged, choking back tears.

The rumble in Naruto's throat dragged on a while before he came even closer to the man and purred, "Mercy?"

"Yes! Mercy, ple-ease!"

The blonde brought his hand up to the man's face and dragged a sharp claw along his victim's cheek. Blood oozed out of the cut as Naruto tightened his grasp on the man's throat, pressing his nails deeper into the old skin. He licked it up ever-so-sweetly and leaned in closer to the man's ear.

"Where was mercy... sixteen years ago..?"

The jinchuuriki pulled his arm back with the man's throat still in his grasp before forcefully lunging the villager against the opposite wall. The 45-year-old smacked against the hard concrete, causing cracks and dents in the stones. He slid back down the wall with aching joints, swearing he broke several bones.

The feline-looking teen licked his lips before throwing himself at his victim and scarring up the man's body whilst breaking arms and legs.

"Where was mercy... on October 13..?-" **CRACK** Year..-" **SNAP** "- After year...-" **RIP** "- After year..." **THUD**

The teen stood back up slowly, with elegance only pumas controlled. He whiped the blood off of his lips with the back of his hand nonchallantly, content and fulfilled.

"Naruto... What did you DO?" the angry, but shocked voice of his sensei echoed through the shallow alley.

The blonde's hands immediatly balled into fists and Kakashi could see blood seeping from the boy's hands, dripping onto the floor. The Kyuubi's claws were long and sharp, Naruto probably wasn't expecting that he'd pierce his own flesh if he clenched his hands.

A high-pitched psycho laugh fluttered off the teen's lips as he threw his head back in his neck and mocked the sky.

"Naruto..."

A fast snap of the boy's head to the right and the jounin could see his crimson eyes. Some fast movements and whisps later and the blonde was standing behind his sensei. He growled at the older man before urging his claw forwards and striking the ex-ANBU in the back. The body poofed away into a puff of smoke, though, and the crimson-eyed male spurred around, searching for his new victim.

He felt a presence behind him and spun around just before the jounin could attach a sealing slip to the back of his head. A red chakra-cloaked claw flung at his attacker, but Kakashi jumped away before the deadly weapon could strike him.

Kyuubi roared again and the pressure created by the demon's chakra pushed the jounin against the wall with utmost force. The older male caused cracks and dents in the bricks, but was back on his feet in a second.

The bijuu prowled out its agitation at the man, stretching its arm out to an abnormal size so it could strike him. But the ex-ANBU jumped away, neatly landing on a rooftop. The arm followed though, almost succeeding in grabbing its victim.

When the fox nearly had him, Naruto suddenly screamed from the inside. He shouted for the Kyuubi to go away, to leave him alone. He begged him not to hurt Kakashi. He pleaded, crying, "Don't!"

Now, Kyuubi wasn't one to go back on his actions, but for his little kit... he'd have to make an exception.

The extended fox-arm pulled back and hung limply to the ground. Slowly but surely, the chakra cloak started to whither away, leaving the blonde with his skin again as he crashed down onto the ground. When he fell, his forehead protector clattered onto the rough gravel and cracked as his body collided with the floor. The last thing the ANBU-nin heard before he slipped away into a haze of white, was,

"Oh, Naruto..."

 **Later On**

Birds chirped Naruto out of his deep slumber as sunrays poured through his open window. Leaves got blown into his room and onto his sheets as he slowly straightened up. The sky was bright blue, the way it usually was and the village seemed as lively, yet peaceful as it always had.

And yet, all Naruto could see was the rain pouring from the sky as he removed another head from another person for another leader who gave him another order for another mission and another head to chop off. All he could hear were the screams of those he didn't know were guilty and the cries of little children as they watched him kill their parents. He could still smell the blood on the kids' faces as the ANBU brought them to Konoha where they'd be put into Homes. This, his captain said, was the best thing they could do for them.

Naruto merely nodded at the time. It was all he really could do. In the beginning, he thought stuff like, "Well I'm gonna' change that!" or, "When I'm Hokage, I'll find a solution for such a ridiculous thing!" But now... now there was no point.

The blonde sighed as he thought back at last night. He rubbed his aching head, realising someone must've put him into bed and someone must've replaced his bloody ANBU uniform by the soft pajamas in his month-long untouched drawer.

He hoisted himself out of bed with aching joints and cracks all around. He took a quick shower before slipping into his ANBU uniform and heading downstairs ever-so-silently.

If it weren't for the boy's chakra, Kakashi wouldn't have noticed him. But this wasn't the time for praise, the jounin recalled.

"Slept well?" he murmured as the boy took a glass out of one of the high cupboards and filled it with water.

There was a split-second in which the ex-ANBU saw a glimpse of a short blonde boy, reaching up to the cupboard, trying his best to get a glass, but not reaching. Then he saw himself sighing and getting the glass for him.

The ANBU nin filled the glass with water from the tap and gulped it all down in just a couple of seconds before refilling it. "Mmyeah," he replied, shrugging before he drank the remaining water.

"Good, 'cos you're up for some heavy training."

There was no enthousiastic jump or a fist in the air. There was no "Ye-he-heay!" or "REALLY?! AWESOME!!" Not even a smile. The blue-eyed teen looked up ever-so-plainly, furrowing his brows in thought, recalling upon something and excusing himself by anouncing, "Sorry, sensei, I've got a mission today."

There was shock in the jounin's eye. "Really?" he asked. "Well, I hadn't seen that one coming. Alright. I guess I can train Sakura, then."

"She's away, with Lady Shizune."

"Hunh... how do you know that, anyway?"

"Kuro told me."

"Oh.. Well, I've been wanting to catch up on my reading, anyway. Finally, a lazy day." The silverhaired man sighed in relief.

Naruto just swallowed the words and nodded before putting up two fingers on his right hand, "See you, then, sensei." And with that, he disappeared into a puff of... no smoke?

"That's odd..." Kakashi remarked.

-R-

"This one too, Kit," Owl said, dragging a screaming woman over to him by her hair. She was protecting an infant and a toddler with her arms, begging them to spare her children.

The fox-masked blonde nodded, pulling one of his two katana out of its holster and gently bending the woman's head down.

"Please!!" the woman bawled, "My children! Spare my children!!"

Kit didn't say anything. Kit wasn't authorized to speak.

"Still having trouble with the ladies, eh?" Beetle sneered.

"Shut up, he's still young," Cat defended him.

"The youngest in this team, that's for sure," Lion replied, happy that he wasn't the youngest anymore.

The woman listened to the dialogue with tears in her eyes. They spilled as Cat pulled her children away from her.

"Mama!" the toddler exclaimed, reaching out for her mother, whose arms were trying to reach her child's.

"It's alright, sweety. Mama's been a very naughty girl and she must be punished," Cat explained sweetly. Her voice was laced with false kindness, or perhaps it was just pure pleasure. Maybe it was insanity, who knew? After all, everyone in the ANBU was either crazy or scarred.

"Just do it already, Kit!" Owl commanded.

The blonde raised his katana high over his head before swishing it downwards, making contact with the screaming woman's neck and slicing the head off. Blood splattered his porcelain mask, staining his ANBU outfit.

"Well, that's another one down..." Beetle noted on his little bingo-book.

Kit stared at the immobile body through the little eye-holes in his mask, turning his head toward the child whose eyes were wide with horror and releasing tears without blinking or screaming. The baby, however, cried like its life depended on it and Cat got so frustrated she threatened to kill it.

Lion took the baby from Cat and tried to hush it or sing to it, but it wouldn't stop.

"Ugh! What's one more death, anyway? All it'll do in the future is be an angsty brat who wants to avenge its parents! Let's kill it!" Cat pursuaded her teammate.

"It makes a difference because it isn't part of the mission," Beetle reminded her.

"I don't care! Give it here!" Cat snatched the baby from Lion.

Kit knew what was going to follow. He turned the toddler around and guided her back to Konoha by her shoulders. He didn't let the girl turn around to find her baby sibling. He didn't even give her a chance to ask what was going to happen to the baby. He picked her up and carried her back to the only place he knew as "Home" in his arms as she cried into his bloody armor.

-R-

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked as the blonde opened the door. The ANBU nin handed the jounin the sleeping girl before heading over to his room and falling on the bed.

The ex-ANBU just stood there, gazing at the little toddler in his arms. "You lost your parents too, huh?" he whispered, heading to Konoha's orphanage without another word.

-R-

"Kit, get the tramp!" Lion demanded, holding two other 12-year-olds by the collars of their shirts.

Kit did as Lion wanted and caught the 12-year-old boy just before he reached the edge of the forest.

Cat sighed. "I got rid of their parents."

"I got the witnesses," Beetle informed.

"Good. Now all that's left is the boss," Owl stated.

"What?! You killed our parents?!" the youngsters yelled, trying their best to get out of Lion's and Kit's grasp.

"Yes, my dear boy," Cat giggled, "mommy and daddy are d-e-a-d. Deeeaaaaad," she laughed her head off.

One of the boys started releasing tears as he kicked Lion rambunctiously. "YOU FILTHY SCUMBAGS!!!" he screamed.

Cat just kept on laughing. "Can you believe it? This kid calls us scumbags, while his OWN fuckin' parents were ruthlessly killing people day in day out!"

"That's precisely what we're doing..."

Everyone turned their heads. Nobody had heard a single word leaving Kit's mouth in months.

"Yeah, so?! We're doing it for the greater good! These kids' parents did it for fun!"

But Kit didn't reply anymore.

"Psh!" Cat turned back around, swinging her long hair over her shoulders and sliding nine poisonous needles out of her armwarmers at an amazing speed. Before the three boys could even refuse, or scream for help, their necks were penetrated by three needles each, though all five ANBU nin knew one would've been enough.

-R-

"Naruto, wanna' go out for Ramen?"

"No thanks, Kakashi."

The jounin stared at the blonde for a long while before walking over to him and placing a hand on his forhead. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Then why no Ramen for the Ramen-vacuum?"

"I'm just not so hungry."

"Uhm.. you're eating cereal at 18:00 o'clock."

"I'm not in the mood for Ramen."

"Alright... Sakura wants to meet up again. You know, the whole team, including Yamato and Sai."

"That's nice."

"Tomorrow at 12 good for you?"

The blonde turned his head toward his guardian slowly. "Oh sorry, Kakashi, I have a mission tomorrow."

"Well don't you every day? Just call it off for once. They won't mind."

"Kakashi, you were in the ANBU yourself."

"Mmm.. this is different. You're in the ANBU black ops."

"Danzo wants me under his surveillance. Can't help it." The blue-eyed boy shoved another spoonful of cornflakes in his mouth.

"Okay, then how 'bout the day after tomorrow?"

"Sorry, I have another mission."

"The day after that?"

"Sorry, another-"

"-Yeah, I know, mission."

"Sorry."

"It's alright," Kakashi snapped, rather irritatedly, "I'll just tell Sakura you're not willing to fit her into your schedule."

"Alright. Thanks."

WHAT THE?!" The jounin's head swirled with all kinds of shocked exclamations. "Naruto, you're supposed to be screaming stuff like, "DON'T DO THAT SENSEI" right now! What's up with you?!"

"Nothing.."

"The ANBU's wearing you out. You come home with blood on your uniform every day. Blood that isn't yours. And it's always your katana that's stained with rusty old blood, aswell."

"My teammates do a lot of the work, aswell."

"I believe that, Naruto, but you should grant yourself a little break, too."

"I can't. I have to become Hokage."

"What?! Do you even still know why?! Do you even remember WHAT you were doing it for? Or has "become Hokage" become your only goal?"

"No. I remember."

"Then what are you doing it for?"

"For my friends. I want to be able to protect them."

"Who?"

"My friends."

"Which friends? You barely see them!"

"Sakura, Sai, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Neji, Lee, Tenten, and all the rest."

"All the rest?"

"Yeah, you know."

"No, name them, Naruto."

"Ugh, I'm not in the mood right now, sensei."

"How 'bout Konohamaru?! And Udon and Moegi! Or GAARA! And Kankurou and Temari! Do you remember any of 'em?!"

"Of course I do! I just don't have much time right now for them."

"Wh-"

"-Surely they understand. After all, I'm doing it for them."

"Whatever, Naruto. Fine."

"Sensei, you're acting so different from your usual self. You should get some rest. As will I right now."

Kakashi felt like he was going to explode or something. But that was so unlike him. Naruto was right.

"Fine. You go sleep."

But instead of following the boy's example, he headed outside. To the Hokage's mansion it is ,he thought.

-R-

An outraged Naruto bursted open the door, smacking it loudly against the wall. It bounced off of the concrete, ready to shut itself again in the blonde's face, but he kicked it open again, prouncing on the jounin in the couch before it slammed shut.

His hand was on the man's throat, clutching it tightly as he pushed the man down roughly.

"What's up?" Kakashi asked with a slight spark in his eye. He knew it was all his doing, after all.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!!" Naruto screamed, fangs growing over red lips as he arrogantly pulled the clutched neck back and flung it against the couch again.

Kakashi could've defended himself. He could've pulled out a kunai or something, but instead he decided to let the boy vent.

This only aggravated the boy even further, though. He didn't want to vent! He didn't want to let it all out, because he knew Kakashi would see that as his punishment and make everything okay again. Naruto would've gotten his revenge, and matters would've been solved. He didn't want that to happen.

"WHY DID YOU REMOVE ME FROM THE ANBU?!!"

"It was breaking you apart."

"YOU FUCKHEAD!!" The blonde's eyes were slowly losing their grim colour to be replaced by maroon red orbs.

"Relax, I was doing it for you."

"I don't fuckingcare who the fuck you were doing it for!! I'm fucking sixteen! You can't fucking decide these fucking things for me!! You fucking fuck!!"

The fact that Naruto was saying 'fuck' alot was just because he needed a new mix to his vocabulary.

"That's good, let it out."

Anger stripes were visible on the blonde's forehead as he grew even more aggravated. "YOU JUST RUINED MY ONLY CHANCE TO BECOME HOKAGE!!"

"There are other ways, Naruto, you know that."

"WHAT OTHER WAYS?!"

"Well, I'm sure Tsunade knows several more besides becoming an ANBU nin. You just wanted that option because it was the shortest way. Admit it."

"I DID IT BECAUSE IT WOULD MADE ME STRONGER!! Why can't you fucking understand that?!! It's not fucking DUTCH! It's not fucking GERMAN! It's not fucking PORTUGUESE!!"

"Alright, okay.." the jounin hushed, gently ruffling the boy's blonde locks.

This only infuriated Naruto even more.

"Get offa' me!!" he sneered, grabbing hold of the jounin's wrist and nearly snapping it.

"It's okay.." his guardian continued though, pushing the teen backwards and switching positions with him. He used the back of a sole finger to stroke over the intensifying, growing whiskermarks on the blonde's cheek and slipped a hand into his pouch while the jinchuuriki lay immobile, startled by the touch. He covered Naruto's eyes with his hand and was shocked to find the boy didn't refuse or go crazy. But he got proven wrong only a second later when he saw the demon had awakened and stirred around inside of Naruto, angry over his loss of sight. When it was about to unleash itself, Kakashi pasted the sealing slip on the boy's forehead just-in-time before the kid went berserk.

When all signs of the Kyuubi had disappeared and the blonde's body went a little limp, he pulled the blue-eyed boy's body back upright on the couch, allowing it to fall in his arms.

"Damn you," the blonde muttered.

Kakashi merely grinned, though.

"If I had the strength to, I'd knock your teeth out of that smirking mouth of yours."

"I'm sure you would," the jounin chuckled, passing a hand through the messy sunshine locks atop the head that leaned against his chest.

Naruto yawned, finally showing just a hint of the fatigue he'd felt for weeks already. The yawn reminded Kakashi of a cat. The way the boy blinked and forced his eyes to stay open reminded the man more of a fox, though. But the way the teen pulled his knees up against his body and wrapped an arm around them reminded him of Naruto. Just Naruto. Poor, fragile, Naruto. Naruto who tried to show the world how very strong he was, while he was breaking apart at the seams.

~*~*~ The next morning ~*~*~

Kakashi wanted to sleep in, but realised he had to train his new recruits. "God damnit.." he muttered, trying to hoist his tired body up. He realised he couldn't, though, and cracked his eye open immediatly. "What the?" he questioned himself, but when his eye fell upon the jinchuuriki in his arms, he realised what had happened. He probably feared waking him up last night, so he decided to go to sleep on the couch. Apparently, even the trained ANBU nin wasn't awake yet; which was yet another valid piece of evidence that the boy was worn out.

"Rise and shine, lazy-ass."

The Jinchuuriki moaned and rolled over the other way, nuzzling his face against his guardian's chest. When he realised what exactly he was, in fact, nuzzling against, both eyes snapped open and his body flung itself toward the other end of the couch, almost as though Kakashi and Naruto were both magnets with the same pools.

"You fell asleep."

"Well so did you!" the blonde replied.

"Ehehehe.. Well, anyway, I have a new team to train. Care to join me?"

"I have a mi-" but the boy stopped himself. He realised he didn't have a mission at all since he wasn't part of the ANBU anymore, and swallowed his words like poison air.

"Do I take that as a 'yes'?"

"Fine," Naruto muttered, blowing a stray golden lock out of his face.

"Alright, I'll go make us some food."

Naruto yawned oncemore, stretching out before he headed upstairs.

The blonde checked his whole cupboard for something decent to wear, but found nothing but flashy clothes. He almost took his ANBU uniform out of the armoir, but decided against it. Instead, he just took out the bottom part of the uniform and pulled his black T-shirt over that. He'd walked around with a mask covering his face for a very long time, so he wasn't used to the feeling of his headband around his forehead. So instead he wore it around his neck, assuming it'd be more comfortable. His hair had grown a little longer, too. The color had worn to more of an orange shade. After all the blood that had splattered his blonde locks and all the days it'd spent rusting and sinking into the hair, Naruto hadn't even put in the effort to dye his hair blonde again.

He never really got all the blood out, anyway. No matter how much shampoo he used. There always was at least some left, underneath all the long spiky locks. The rusty metalic-smelling substance also made it so that his soft fuzzy hair no longer felt like newborn fox-fur. Instead, it felt like "bloody fox that spent the week sleeping on the forest ground" fur.

"Damn..." he groaned, stretching out as he did so. "I'm sooooooo damn tired," he stated angrily. He was pissed at himself for being so worn-out and even angrier because he wasn't afraid to admit it.

"You can nap on the trainingfields," Kakashi said, suddenly at his door.

Naruto's head flashed to the right immediatly, eyes spreading open wide as he took in the sight of the jounin. Surely he was supposed to be able to sense the man coming! He was three feet away from him for Judy's sake! Why the HECK didn't he sense him?!!

"If you're wondering why you didn't sense me... Fatigue solves that mystery. You're tired. Though I can't blame you, you've been on ANBU missions day in day out for months."

"I'm NOT tired."

"Oh come on, you just said so yourself. You can stay here and sleep some more if you want."

"NO. I'm coming."

"Alright," the jounin smiled, tossing the blonde a lunchbag. "Eat it on the way. We were supposed to be at training ground 4 half an hour ago."

"Old habits die hard..."

 **20 minutes later**

Naruto tossed the empty bag in a garbage can at the entrance of the training fields. The three new Genin were sitting around, backs against each-other in a triangle shape. They'd grown attached to each-other in the academy already. Naruto could tell. They reminded him of the Konohamaru corps.

"Sensei! What took you so long?!" one of the three demanded of the silverhaired man. The boy stood up, revealing two thin stripes on one of his cheeks running all the way to the side of his face. The boy had standard brown hair and ochar eyes.

"Sorry guys, I was on my way here when I bumped into a homeless kid. See? His name's Naruto."

"Are you really homeless?" the girl in the team asked, looking at Naruto with a hint of concern. The girl had dark blue hair, nearly black. The jinchuuriki almost thought it was Hinata, but when he realised that couldn't make sense, he realised it was Hanabi.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Hanabi retorted, "I know you! Naruto, the one that used to go the same school as Hinata-nee-san! Sis' always talks about you."

"Does she?" Naruto asked, shocked.

"Yeah. Really annoying."

"Eh..."

"So he's not homeless?" the third party-member asked, standing up aswell. It was another boy; this one had pale blonde hair and gentle blue eyes.

"Are you Ino's brother?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"You look a lot like her."

"Nah, I'm more handsome!"

Naruto sweatdropped. "And you talk like her, too."

"Pfeh. So, sensei, what're we gonna' do?"

"Well, you're gonna' do something I like to call the bell-test." Kakashi revealed two bells, explaining to the team what to do with them.

During the jounin's explanation, Naruto got all kinds of flashbacks as he gazed at the wooden poles and the bells with a nostalgic wave of emotions rolling over him.

"Alright, begin!" the jounin anounced the start of the test and the three little Genin scattered instantly.

Naruto could see where all three of them were, though, with ease.

"Heh. Were you able to find us back then, too, sensei?" the blonde asked.

Kakashi turned around. "Yup. Well, besides you. You kind of decided to do the last thing any normal person would do."

Naruto gazed up at the sky, remembering that day. "Let's fight this match fair and square," he muttered, repeating what he'd said al those years ago.

"Yup. Good times, good times. Okay, time to scare the living daylights out of the girl."

"You mean like you did with Sakura?"

"Exactly!" Kakashi smiled.

"It won't work. Hanabi isn't like that."

"You'd be amazed at how these kids are, boy-o."

"Hanabi's more like Neji than Hinata," Naruto replied, ignoring what the man had just said.

"Crap. I guess I'm gonna' have to spend the next few years listening to destiny blab then."

He expected the blue-eyed teen to chuckle or at least smile, but instead he just shut his eyes, drew a deep breath and said, "It wasn't blab. Neji had a valid point back then. He was right, word for word. I just didn't want to believe it."

"OOOOOKAAAAY nostalgic boy, I'm gonna' go find my team."

"Aright, see ya'."

Naruto lay down, leaning against a tree. The warm sun lit up his matured features as he slowly dozed off.

"Can we paint stuff on his face?"

"No, Hanabi, I don't think that's such a great idea."

"But sensei, he's been asleep throughout the whole test!"

"I never said he was interested in what you guys were doing, Noba."

"Well he should be! He should either come here and watch, or just go away! He's just like those people who enter our flowershop and don't buy anything!"

"In what way does that link to this? I swear, you're such an idiot sometimes."

"Just 'cos YOU'RE an idiot for not understanding it!"

"Shut up, both of you. I'm trying to write something on his face here."

"Hanabi."

"Yes, sensei?"

"Don't."

"But-"

"Uuuughh.." Naruto yawned, stretching out.

The three Genin scooted away as fast as they could.

"Well goodmorning to you, lazy bum!" the blonde boy scolded Naruto.

"What's your name?" the jinchuuriki asked.

"Ichizen."

"Shut up, Ichizen."

"HEY!"

"He's right," the brunette agreed.

"Oh fuck off, Noba!"

"Could you two quit arguing?! You're acting like infants!" Hanabi lectured.

Naruto hissed at the three and they were instantly silent.

"I take it you're not a morning-person." Hanabi declared, unafraid of the older male.

"He's not," Kakashi answered, putting a hand on the teen's head and ruffling his hair a little.

Naruto's eyes were still tired as he gazed onwards, trying his best not to fall asleep again.

"Well, we have good news for you!" Noba smiled. "We all passed!"

"Great," Naruto muttered.

"Aren't you happy for us?"

"Sure."

"He doesn't sound happy to me."

"Who cares what he thinks?"

"I do. If he's sensei's son then I think he should care."

"So he's unsocial and stoic. Who cares?"

"Well, sis' referred to him to be hyperactive and loud."

"Then your sister's wrong."

"My sister's never wrong!" Hanabi spat at the boy with a venom-laced voice.

"Clearly she is, so get over it."

"Fuck you."

"QUIT FIGHTING." Kakashi demanded. "You're givin' me a headache," he complained.

"Sorry sensei," all three said simultaneously.

"Can we go now?"

"Yeah, sure. Make sure to be here tomorrow morning at 7 am sharp."

"You're not gonna' be on time yourself, are you?"

"Undoubtedly so, but if I am, and you're not here, you won't be going on the mission with us."

"YES SIR!" the three said in chorus, all terrified of missing out on their first mission. "Bye-bye, sensei! Bye-bye, Naruto-kun!"

"See ya'."

"Yeah.." Naruto went along, getting up aswell.

The three turned around and left the training ground happily.

When all three were out of sight, the reckless blonde turned around again, only to find his body weak and disobedient. Without warning, his knees gaveaway and within a second he was tumbling down. Kakashi caught him just before the teen collided with the ground and sighed.

"You're really worn out, aren't you?"

"No," the blonde mumbled against his guardian's jounin-vest. "I'm fine.." he exhaled deeply, shutting his eyes unvoluntarily and losing balance.

Before the jinchuuriki rolled away, his sensei slid another arm behind his back and helped him up again. He saw no choice but to carry him home, even as the boy muttered words of protest.

"D..don't...I'm perfectly...okay..."

"I doubt it."

"What?"

"I doubt it."

"Hmm?"

His guardian got worried and leaned the teen against a wall for a second so he could put a hand on the boy's forehead.

"Shit. You're getting ill."

"How could I?"

"I'm guessing it's the same thing as with school. That's why you get sick in the vacation more often than during the schoolyear. When your body realises it can rest, all the fatigue and diseases your body has stored away for later suddenly strike you." (Myth)

"What?"

"Nevermind. Point is, I need to get you home."

"Just get Sakura. She'll have an... energy pill...of some..sort..." the boy slurred before losing all sense of the human world and slipping away into a deep slumber.

-R-

"Nnngg..."

Kakashi realised the blonde was slowly waking and lost some of the stress that had started to build up in his chest.

"Here. Open up," he told the teen, holding out a thermometer.

"Uh.." Naruto groaned, unprepared to take anything yet. His eyes were half-open and all he could see was a fuzzy world that preferred to spin than stay still and allow him to get a clear sight of things.

"Come on, Naruto, stay with me."

The jinchuuriki parted his lips slightly and the jounin tried his best to get the thermometer in right.

Naruto thought he'd fallen asleep when the next thing he heard was the steady beeps of the thing in his mouth.

"Crap." he heard Kakashi curse and the next thing he knew he was being carried somewhere.

"N-no.." he managed to say when he felt pieces of clothing were starting to go missing.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I need to cool you down."

"No..bath..."

"I don't know any other way." The jounin removed the boy's shirt as last, leaving the teen solely in boxershorts.

"Out..side.."

"You know I can't do that. Come, a nice cold shower will do you good."

"No.." the boy pleaded, but he could already hear the shower running.

"I'm going to get a chair. Stay awake."

He tried his best, he really did. Nevertheless, slowly but surely the room had started to grow darker and darker without the help of a light-switch. Warmth surrounded Naruto in a cold way, almost like he'd gotten a blanket, but he was standing on the South Pole.

And just then, he got shaken awake again. "Stay with me, Naruto."

The teen didn't even yelp or open his eyes any further when he got placed on the soaked chair that now stood on the base of the shower, enduring the icecold rays of water.

"Come on, Naruto!" Kakashi tried to speed up the process, but nothing changed.

 _"Kill them, kit!"_

 _Blood splattered in every direction, staining Naruto's porcelain mask ask children cried._

 _"Noooo!!" a girl shrieked, extending her arm out as far as it would go in her parents' direction._

 _"Go on," Cat urged Kit, pushing the girl in her comrade's direction. "Kill her."_

 _Naruto slowly pulled his katana out of its holster and rested it on the back of the girl's neck for a second._

 _"Come on! I'm bored. For fifty criminals, they really weren't much of a fight at all."_

 _"And to think they got twenty children!" Lion added, clueless as to how all these people could make so many babies._

 _"Well, so long as we killed them all, our mission has succeeded," Owl replied calmly._

 _"So hurry up already, Kit!" Cat whined._

 _Naruto raised his katana high over his head. The girl shrieked and cried, trying to break out of Cat's hold. "Please!!!" she begged, "Please mister!! Please don't!! I'm sorry my parents were criminals!! I'm sorry!! Please don't kill me mister!!"_

 _The katana gleamed in the moonlight, lashing down at an amazing speed._

"Naruto! Naruto, wake up!"

The teen got pulled back out of the shower, to be enveloped by a soft towel that wrapped around his entire body easily. He got picked up again and carried away oncemore.

"N..nnn..." he went as the world spinned around him. Trying to find some sort of stability, he leaned his forehead against the older male's chest, putting pressure on it to stop the bonking.

Kakashi laid the boy down on his own king-size bed, leaving him there for a minute to get something from downstairs.

When the man returned, Naruto hadn't even realised he'd left.

"Open up," he instructed, holding out a spoon with medicine.

"Dejâ vu..." the teen muttered before opening his mouth as told.

Kakashi smiled softly behind his mask, surprised that the blonde actually listened when he told him to take the medicine.

When the piece of silverware retracted emptily, the jinchuuriki started to cough like mad. "Foul," he stated inbetween coughs.

"Okay, take it easy. Here, have some water."

The boy didn't feel like water though and merely turned the other way.

But the jounin wouldn't let the blonde have what he wanted and helped him up straight while holding the glass of water for him.

"Drink it. It helps."

"Nn.."

"Come," the ex-ANBU urged, pressing the cold glass against the younger's lips, pleased to see the boy take a sip.

The jinchuuriki fell back against the pillows exhaustedly, falling asleep within a matter of minutes.

 _"AAAAAAHH!!" "PLEASE, DON'T!!!" "SPARE US!!!" "DON'T KILL ME!!!!" "PLEASE!!"_

"It's alright, sensei, you're doing what you should," Sakura's voice said from the other end of the phone.

"Are you sure? His temp's really high and he's constantly falling asleep."

"If what you told me is true, the ANBU have just really worn him out. Whatever it is that happened to him, it's nothing my medical jutsu could heal. Believe me sensei, medical ninjutsu is only for fractured bones and blood-loss. I can not do anything about a cold."

"But it's more than a cold-"

"Then whatever it is, you're doing the right thing. Trust me." **"Sakura! Quit yappin' with your friends and get over here! Or do you want your patient to die?!"** "Sorry, master! Kakashi-sensei, I'm sorry, but I really have to go." **"NOW, SAKURA!"** "Yes master! Bye sensei!"

"Okay, bye Sak-" BEEP BEEP BEEP. "...-ura.."

THUMP*

"What the?!" Kakashi sped up the stairs at an impressive speed, hurrying into his room to find the blonde teen lying on the floor, probably having fallen out of bed.

"Damn.." the boy muttered, having gained consciousness again instantly. He tried to push his body up again, but found this a harder feat than he'd thought. It was just impossible for him to stand up.

"C'mere," his guardian said, slipping an arm around him and helping him back into bed.

"I can do it.." Naruto said when the older male pulled the blankets over his lythe form.

As the teen slowly started drifting off into sleep again, Kakashi unscrewed the cover on the little medicine-bottle on the nightstand and poured some of the thick liquid medication on the spoon that lay beside it.

"Open up," he said for what appeared to be the hundredth time that day eventhough it was only the third.

"N..I don't.."

"Come on," the jounin tried, but there was no coöperation on the other end.

"You won't get better if you don't."

"I...I killed..all of them."

Kakashi couldn't get what the boy was getting at the first few seconds, but then it suddenly clicked in his mind.

"The children, too... they cried...they begged...they pleaded...and yet still, I...I killed them."

"You had no other choice."

"I could've left."

"And you did."

"Now."

"Better late than never. Now take this."

"... I made them watch their parents die... and then... I killed them..."

"You didn't make them, Naruto. It was Danzo's choice to make. You just followed your leader's orders, which is exactly what you should've done. Now listen to your other leader and open up."

Deep red lips slowly parted ever-so-slightly and it took a heck of a struggle for the jounin to get the medicine in the boy's mouth.

"All of it," he said when Naruto wanted to pull away.

"Good. I'm going to take your temperature now, okay?"

Naruto merely sighed, realising there was no point in objecting.

When the beep sounded loudly and Kakashi took a look at the thermometer, Naruto could hear the man sigh contently. "Thank God.." was all he could say.

"Am I better..yet..?" Naruto asked, but drifted off into sleep before the man's reply was out.

 _"What do you think you'll accomplish with this, boy?"_

 _Kit didn't reply; instead he just pulled his katana out of its holster and approached his enemy._

 _"Taking innocent lives like that, what do you think the result will be? How do you expect to create peace in such brutal ways?"_

 _Kit came nearer and nearer to the man that tried to lecture him, eventhough he was clearly at a disadvantage with that huge wound in his chest._

 _"What's your name? Kit?"_

 _Kit still didn't say a word._

 _"Well, Kit, know this... what you're doing... it's wrong."_

 _Kit ignored the man's words and pierced the lecturer's chest oncemore, drawing even more blood. The man put a hand on his shoulder and brought his mouth closer to his ear, whispering,_

 _"Is This Justice?"_

 _And the man collapsed._

Cold embraced Naruto's skin and shivers ran over his entire body.

He slowly opened his eyes and took in the sounds of his surroundings. The shower was running again and pieces of clothing were missing oncemore. Within moments he could feel the icecold rays of water pierce his body and the first thing his body did as a reaction to the water was lurch forwards, only to meet a certain jounin's chest in the process.

"Woah," the man uttered, "well I see you're feeling better." He smiled honestly, patting the blonde's head briefly.

"D-d-don't ever do that AGAIN!" Naruto lectured, still clutching the black fabric of the older male's jounin sweater.

"Hehe, sorry kid. You were sick." Eventhough Kakashi's voice appeared to be natural, perhaps even bored, he held on tight to the blue-eyed teen and just pressed him against his chest for a while.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again..." he muttered against the boy's blonde locks.

"Don't worry... I'm through with the ANBU."

"..Okay..."

Naruto wanted to move, but strong arms restrained him.

"..Just give me a minute."

The blonde retracted his arms and allowed his guardian to hold him as long as he wanted. If it were up to him, he'd let the man hold him forever. If that made up for what he'd done. If that made up for the lives he's ended so ruthlessly. If that made up for his mistakes. If that made up for everything...

The jounin inhaled sharply, tightening his hold on the fragile boy a little more.

Naruto hadn't realised he'd come that close to death. He didn't know he wasn't supposed to be alive right now, until he felt arms tighten like mad around him.

"Don't worry, I'm not goin' anywhere," he assured the silverhaired man with a bright smile.

"I..I know."

 **The next day**

Nevertheless, it took another half hour before Naruto got to leave.

"We should do this more often," Kiba murmured, leaning against Akamaru in the soft grass, arms behind his head.

"Mmm..." Shikamaru mumbled, dozing off against a treetrunk.

Chouji was busy with the campfire, following Sai's instructions. Lee and Neji were having a spar in the river, both claiming to be faster when struggling against gravity. Lee was self-certain enough to assure Neji taijutsu was the only thing that could defy gravity, whilst Neji disagreed and simply stated that only ninjutsu could strike gravity in an even battle.

Naruto was up in the tree Shikamaru was sleeping against, fishing pole in his hands as his legs hung from a branch up high in the foliage.

"Of course, next time, we should remember to keep it a secret from Gai-sensei," Kiba added, covering his ears from the strain of the bobby-haired jounin's cheers.

"YIIIIEEEEAAAAHH!! FIGHT WITH THE YOUTH GIVEN TO YOU BY THE SUNLIGHT BURNING THROUGH YOUR VEINS!!"

"That doesn't even make any sense," Shikamaru sighed.

"Oi! Naruto! Fish biting yet?" Kiba asked.

"Mmnah.."

Asuma walked over to the group at the riverside with a deck of cards. "I couldn't bring the shogi board, but I'm sure as heck gonna' beat you at poker, Shikamaru!" he warned his pupil.

"You can try, sensei. But do it in a while. Save it for Gai-sensei. Need sleep."

"You sleep all day," Asuma disagreed.

"That's cos I'm such a sad, mercilessly whooped guy."

"I'll whoop your ass at poker, if that's what you mean."

"Maybe Kiba's awake enough," Shikamaru requested.

"Nuh-uh. Try Naruto."

"Hey! Naruto! Fancy a game of poker?!" Asuma called, face tilted so he could see the blonde sitting way higher above the gang.

"N'thanks, Asuma-sensei. Gotta' catch 'nough fish to satisfy Chouji."

"Right. Understandable. But sheer laziness is not. C'mon, Shikamaru, you owe me a game."

"I'm absolutely certain Sai would like to play with you."

"It's not a matter of PLAYING, though. I've got to get my revenge for the last five times you whipped my ass!"

"Did someone say my name?" Sai asked, walking over to the group.

"Yeah. Asuma wants to play a game of poker with you," Shikamaru informed.

"How nice!" Sai smiled and set off with Asuma to find a nice spot underneath the shade of a tree to play.

"Chouji, quit stomping my bugs," Shino demanded irritatedly.

Well, in other words, the guys were having a fun camping-day-out. Laughing, snoring, shouting, cheering, even the loud "toryaa's" from Lee sounded like music on this beautiful spring day.

"Fish biting?"

Naruto lazily turned his head to find his sensei on the branch beside him, leisurely reading his orange-clad book as he leaned his chin on the palm of his hand.

"Not really."

"Chouji's gonna' go berserk when he runs out of chips."

"Yeah. Probably."

A minute of silence and then the older male continued.

"Sakura should be back in a couple of days. Said she wanted to go to the movie theatre to see the newest version of Cinderella."

"Ugh."

"Well, don't prejudge, cos she wanted to watch it with you. And the gang, of course. But she definitely mentioned dragging you along."

"Ugh."

"Aren't you happy?"

"To see Cinderella?"

"With Sakura."

"... I don't get your line of thought."

Kakashi sighed. "Like a date."

"Cool," was all the blonde said.

"No cheer for happiness? Or a jump of joy?"

"Nah. Got over it. Maturity, y'know?"

"Right... So, any plans for the future?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Well.. Now that you quit the ANBU, what's gonna' happen?"

"I dunno'. Jounin stuff, I guess. Maybe I'll just travel a little. The road's open, right?"

"Right," the boy's guardian smiled, giving him a quick ruffle on the head.

"So what're you gonna' do?" the teen asked.

"Dunno'. Jounin stuff, I guess. Who knows I'll just travel for a little while. Road's open."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah, that's right."

"That's right," the older male repeated.

"Yeah..." the two of them sighed together, enjoying the silence of the crowd and the chirping of birds all around them. The sounds of the streaming river soothed their hyper-sensitive sensing skills and the leaves blowing in the warm spring breeze spread a warm green cheer across the campsite.

Times were changing. The doors were open.

"Yes," Naruto softly spoke, eyes shut and a gentle smile on his face, "this is justice."

 **Finally another long chapter's done! I hope you like it minna! Well, see ya next time!**


	18. Innocent young Naruto

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC. (Except my Hinata of course #Evil Laugh)**

 **Shivrasi: Thank you! I'm glad you like it!**

 **Aprilia Echizen:** **Yes, I agreed with you. Cold Naruto are awesome and well different (?) lol thanks for review.**

 **sultryvoice:** **Everyone will surely go through their darkness just for reach their dreams. So did happen with Naruto. Maybe if Kakashi wasn't there for him, he will become like Gaara or worst lol Thank you for taking the time to review every chapter I made.**

Curious blue eyes watched from behind the countertop as a little potato knife cut through the flesh of a shiny maroon apple. The apple got cut into four slices, then into eight. The slices got placed into a little bowl with cow-print and then the bowl got carried outside; to the porch. It wasn't a big porch, but it had a bench and that was all it needed.

To the famous copy-nin, a place to sit was enough, since all he really wanted to do is read his smutty book. But to the little blonde, the porch was spectacular because the bench was actually a swing-bench. It didn't go as fast as a real swing, but it swung and it was a bench at the same time and that was magic to the kid.

The young jinchuuriki knew he was expected to follow, so he tipple-tappled after the older man and plopped down on the bench beside him, causing it to swing a little. A chunk of apple got held out to him and he gnashed into it with his fang-like teeth. With a mouthful of apple, he jumped back off of the bench and started chasing birds around.

The jounin sighed at the sight, but just continued to read, anyway. While the boy was busy playing on this beautiful spring morning, he lowered his mask and put the remaining piece of apple in his mouth before pulling the mask back up again and returning to his reading.

There was nobody around to see them, anyway. First of all, it was too early. And secondly, this was the Hatake mansion. It was pretty closed-off and had big enough walls to keep intruders out.

The blue-eyed boy followed a bird back up the steps again and lunged at it when the animal stood still. But before he could catch it, the pigeon flew away and soared off as fast as it could. The boy huffed and stood back up again, staring after the bird angrily. He crossed his arms infront of his chest, curious as to why birds could fly and humans could not. But instead of asking, he just sat back down next to the older male and slightly lowered his jaw.

The jounin smiled gently and held out another slice of apple to the kid, flipping a page in his book with his thumb. He held the slice of fruit clenched between his fingers longer than usual and he realised something was off.

When he turned his head around, he could see the young jinchuuriki staring wide-eyed at the pigeon that had recently returned. The boy didn't move, he sat statue-still on the bench, glaring at the bird without blinking. Slowly, without swinging the bench, using the skills of a puma, he changed to the position of a cat. He crawled over to the pigeon ever-so-slowly and stretched his neck so he could see the creature. He sat still for about 8 seconds and then he flung his body forwards at the most impressive speed the jounin's ever seen a three-year-old move before.

Kakashi could only see the blonde's back, but he could clearly see the kid was hunched over something. There was blood spilling to the ground and the child's neck slowly arched upwards so his guardian could see the pigeon in his mouth.

Yes, there was a bird clenched between the little boy's teeth.

"No, Naruto!" He rushed to the boy's side and hunched down beside the kid, trying to pull the beast out of the kid's mouth.

The blonde refused to let go of his prey, though, and held on stubbornly.

"Spit it out," his guardian warned, "now."

The blue-eyed child shook his head, feathers flying all over the place.

"Now, Naruto." The tone the jounin spoke in was more than warning; it was unhappy.

The look the boy gave him was one of confusion and sorrow, but he slowly lowered his head and dropped the pigeon on the floor.

Trails of blood were dry on the blonde's face and his lips were even darker than the apple was.

"Jeegh. Better go brush your teeth now. And use mouthwash. Or something like that."

The boy didn't look pleased at that comment, but did as desired of him anyway.

The ex-ANBU followed him to the bathroom and helped him clean up. Or, at least, what he could help him with. If he got some kind of disease, he'd have to let doctors fix that.

 **Later on**

Kakashi sighed. "What a feast that was. First course of the day; pigeon."

Little Naruto chuckled.

"Proud o' yourself?" the jounin raised a brow.

This only caused the young child to giggle even harder and clasp his tiny feet in a menacing grasp.

"Yeah, hope you're happy. Cos you sure aren't gonna' be happy when you hear it's a day-care day."

The jinchuuriki's eyes immediately spread open wide at the sound of "day-care".

"Yup, that's right. Miss Hoshiru is gonna' be your mother today. That ain't gonna' be my task anymore for the next few hours. You're going to get to play with Kiba and Sasuke and all those other brats. Ain't that nice?"

Silence. Naruto pulled a face at the sound of "Sasuke" and turned away like he was seriously let-down.

"Don't be a grouch, be happy for me," the jounin said, smiling wickedly behind his mask.

But there was no such thing emitting from the little blonde.

"Thanks, miss Hoshiru."

"Oh please, Hatake-kun, just Kirin," the lady smiled.

"Right, thank you Kirin. I'll be back at around six."

"Long mission today?"

"Yup."

"Well, no worries, little Naruto will be safely waiting for your return."

"'Kay. See you chibi." The silver-haired male ruffled the bright blonde locks of the toddler in miss Hoshiru's arms before turning around and walking away.

The blue eyes on the foxlike face watched the man's back until he was completely out of sight. There was disappointment and sorrow written all over his face, just like most children here felt the moment their parents dropped them off. But the emotion in his eyes was one that very few of them ever went through when they sat straddled in Kirin's arms. Abandonment.

Every time he came here, no matter how many times Kakashi came back to get him, he feared the man might just leave him there and never come back. He didn't know why, but something inside of him screamed that he was lonely and different and worth less than all those other children. It was the same thing that made him chase birds around.

"D'you wanna go play with Sasuke-chan and Kiba-chan, Naru-chan?" Kirin asked, expecting no reply. She was already on her way there when the blonde pulled a face from here to tomorrow, stating that he didn't want to spend ANY time with the raven at all. "Sakura-chan and Hina-chan are already there."

The moment miss Hoshiru placed him on the ground amidst the group of toddlers, little Kiba walked over to him and Hinata joined the two. Sasuke was sitting in a corner, building a tower and Sakura was watching him.

"Hiya, Naru!" Kiba smiled.

"Is Naru happy today?" Hinata asked. Of course, being a child of a clan of nobles, she was brought up to mind her pronunciation and vocabulary, but that simply created a ridiculous sight for those who knew what the poor child went through at home.

Naruto didn't reply. Instead, he just smiled back at the two.

Everyone's parents had come to pick up their little ones, except for Naruto's and Sasuke's. At five o'clock, Hinata left with her father after waving to Naruto. Naruto waved back, feeling kind of sad when he realised he was alone with Sasuke.

Sasuke was still busy with his tower, which was now two times his size, and Naruto stared at the tower in awe. It was very well-constructed. Naruto started to wonder if Sasuke had learned how to build towers or if he just built whatever he felt like. Upon realising it was probably the second, he felt an immense wave of jealousy washing over him, but he replaced it with respect. Kakashi had taught him to always respect your enemies, because they are your equal.

But when Sasuke spared himself a moment to glare at Naruto, the respect was immediately gone and oncemore replaced by anger and resentment.

It wasn't long before Sasuke's big brother, Itachi, came to pick him up. When Sasuke stood up happily and uttered, "Nii-san!" running over to the older boy cheerfully and jumping into the other raven's arms, Naruto felt even more jealousy jitter through his veins.

When Itachi and Sasuke left and passed by the big glass wall, Naruto stood up and broke Sasuke's tower, making sure that the raven could see it. He turned around with a smirk, grimacing at the sight of Sasuke's shocked, sad eyes.

 **At** **O6:5O**

Kirin sighed. "Mou, Hatake-kun, if you know you're gonna' run a little late, then just tell me you'll pick him up at seven."

"Sorry, sorry, Hoshiru-chan."

"It's no big deal since my boyfriend's only done at eight, anyway, but in the future, you'll get problems with arranging your appointments."

"Don't worry, miss Hoshiru, I already have those problems. I've never been good at being on time."

"Kirin, Hatake-kun."

"Right, Kirin. So where's Naruto?"

"Hm? He was right there only a while ago. I'm sure he's just sitting around somewhere."

Kakashi entered the little children-area with the padded walls and single glass wall, finding a way through all the toys and colourful cushions. "Naruto?" He sensed the boy's chakra and walked over to a timbered construction which once was a tower. Behind the rubbage lay a little body, sleeping soundly.

"Hmph," the jounin grinned. He picked the blonde up, nodded to miss Hoshiru and left.

It was one AM when little feet tipple-tappled their way across the hall. The little bed had long since been abandoned and the child found a new bed to check. The door was always open a crack, just because the man knew he couldn't reach the doorknob yet. So he walked over to the jounin's side, searching for his face. Very gently, making sure not to wake him, he put a hand on the older male's chest, checking to feel his heartbeat.

Yup, it was his guardian who lay in this bed. Yes, he had come back. He'd returned. And he'd taken him with him. He hadn't been not abandoned, after all.

Quietly, he left the room again and hopped back into his own bed.

From the other room at the other end of the hall, a sole eye cracked open and a tiny smile appeared on a pale face.

"Be careful, it's hot."

Naruto took the cup of milk with both hands and blew it gently. After a few minutes of blowing, he sipped at the white beverage and smiled as he put it down. The man before him had an impressive way of preparing milk and Naruto loved that about him most. The milk at the pre-schoolers academy was bland and cold, but Kakashi's milk was delicious. He always said he added some kind of secret ingredient, but never told Naruto what it was.

The man stood up from his leaning position against the counter, ruffled through the blonde's messy locks and left for his room to put on his jounin outfit.

Naruto knew this was his cue to leave and hopped off of his barstool to hide behind the couch.

When Kakashi came back downstairs, he spotted a half-empty milk-cup, but no little jinchuuriki.

"Naruto?"

Silence.

"Hide-and-seek, eh? Couldn't you have come up with a better time to play this game?"

The jounin could smell the milk on the boy's lips easily, not only cos of his skills as a ninja, but also because he had a strengthened sense of smell by birth. His nin-hounds could've easily found him, too, but did he really need special dogs to find a toddler?

"Come out, come out, wherever you are." Ha! The man thought, quickly leaning over to look behind the couch. But the boy wasn't there.

Hmm...? Peculiar. I could swear I smelled milk.

Naruto giggled triumphantly, sure that the man would never find him.

Could it be? No, he's too big for that. Although.. The jounin got down on all fours, looking under the couch. Surely, there was a little white sock there, which mean the child had been there moments ago.

"Aww, crap. I really gotta' leave for my mission. Okay, Naruto, playtime's over. Time to go to miss Hoshiru."

There was a muffled squeek, which indicated that he really didn't want to go to the daycare center.

Quietly now, Kakashi moved over to the front of the couch and realised something with the couch cushions was off. Silently yet speedily, with the skills of the known jounin he was, he pulled the couch pillows off to find a little blonde boy, looking up at him with big, blue, pleading eyes. It was obvious he really didn't want to go back to miss Hoshiru.

"C'mon, time to go." He picked the blonde up and left the house, walking through the streets of Konoha swiftly and briskly. People on the street glared at him and at the boy and it would've been delusional if Kakashi told himself that Naruto didn't see it. The kid did, oh yes he did. He turned his head away from them, though, burying his face in the crook of the jounin's neck instead. Kakashi sped up a little.

"Okay, I'll see you later then, Hatake-san?"

"Seven-ish."

"You mean eight?"

"Possibly."

"You mean probably?"

"Yes."

"Okay, see you at eight, then, Hatake-kun!"

"Thank you, Kirin."

But when he tried to move, he found there was something hanging on his leg. He looked down and noticed the boy was stuck to his leg as though there were glue on his hands. The child whined, desperately longing to speak up and tell Kakashi he wanted the two to just go home together. He wanted to talk and to ask him not to leave him behind like this. But he couldn't.

"Don't worry, Naru, I'm only gonna' be gone for a few hours."

"Mmnn!" the child whined.

"I'll come back; I swear." The jounin pealed the boy's hands off of his leg and turned around, walking away.

"Do..."

Kakashi stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at the whiskered kid with his mouth half-open.

"Don't... Don't go!"

The ex-ANBU nin was shocked, to say the least. He stared at the boy dumbfoundedly, his mind puzzling together the words, trying to link them to the jinchuuriki's mouth. Was it really Naruto's mouth those sounds came out of?

"Don't go don't go don't go!!" he squeeled, hurrying over to Kakashi and glomping his legs again. "Don't leave Naruto!!"

The jounin slumped down on his knees, holding the boy and patting him on the head. "Don't worry, Naruto, I swear I'll come back," he hushed him.

"You won't you won't you won't!! You-you leave Naruto forever and ever!!"

"Nooo, no, don't worry. Kakashi will come back. Kakashi comes back every time."

"Not this time!" The child whiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, speaking in such an immigrant's dialect that Kakashi had to wonder whether the kid was Spanish.

"Yes, this time, too. I will come back. I'd never abandon you, Naruto."

"K-Kakashi promise."

"Yes, yes Kakashi promises. Don't worry. No need to be afraid."

The boy immediately pushed himself away. "Naruto's not afraid!" he said, sternly.

The jounin couldn't help but laugh. "Right, Naruto's not afraid of anything," he agreed, ruffling through the sunshine hair once more.

The blonde shut his eyes and relied on the strength of his heart to believe the man would come back.

Hinata was the only one at the day-care center that afternoon. They played together for a while until Hinata's mother came to pick her up. After that, it was just Naruto again...

 **At O7:3O**

"You're here early, Hatake-san!" Kirin looked up from her magazine, shocked.

"Yes, the mission passed quickly," the jounin replied.

Kirin could tell though, from the fatigue displayed on the ex-anbu's face, that it only went quickly because he'd pushed himself to make it so.

"Come on, Naruto," he called the boy over.

The toddler shot up onto his feet and ran over.

"Ready to go?" the man asked, but Naruto didn't reply anymore. "Oh come on, don't tell me you have nothing to say to the beautiful idea of snowcones?"

"Ice cream?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi chuckled. "There we go. And here I was, thinking your first words would be angsty, sad ones." He threw the jinchuuriki over his shoulder and flashed Kirin a quick smile before leaving the day-care center.

"Naruto old enough to stay home, now?"

"Alone?"

"Ye."

"Sorry, Naru, wait until you're a bit older."

"Naruto old enough to mission with Kakashi?"

"Haha, not quite."

"Quite?"

"Hoo boy.. we're gonna' have to teach you some serious vocabulary, kid."

Naruto didn't scream or run off or anything, but that was most likely because he didn't know what the word 'vocabulary' meant.

"You sure are a handful.."

 **Sorry it wasn't long chapter like you expected, but I hope you not dissapointed.** **I still haven't got the right title for this chapter.. Any idea? So I can change it for better one.**


	19. Such a handful

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC. (Except my Hinata of course #Evil Laugh)**

 **Pat123: I know! isn't it? lol thanks for review.**

 **shivrashi: Thank you, glad if you like it!**

 **Sultryvoice: I agreed.. Thank you for the uderstanding and I really appreciate it.**

 **Thank you for everyone that still follow my fanfiction, I don't know what will happen without your support. I really mean it. #BowsDeeply**

It was a hot Summer day in Konoha, and the only thing Kakashi wanted to do right now was read his book in undisturbed silence. So he made Naruto run twenty laps around the clearing in the park and do thirty crunches, twenty sit-ups, fifteen push-ups and keep practising until he could create 20 kage bunshin.

Momentarily, the boy was laying on his chest with his cheek and had his little body curled against his own. Despite the fact that Naruto was already nine, his body was fairly small and Kakashi had no doubt as to what was the cause of that. As a baby, Naruto had been more than not abandoned and was therefore underfed for weeks.

The was tired-out and drooling all over Kakashi's jounin sweatshirt, which, for some reason, at this point, he didn't mind anymore. He didn't even mind when curious mothers interrupted his precious reading-time to take a look at the boy that adorned the being of Kakashi, stating how cute he was and angel-like with his blond hair.

Others hissed at the sight of Naruto, glaring at him even though he was asleep. Though Kakashi wouldn't really say it out-loud, since he was proud and ready to beat the crap out of anyone who insulted those important to him, he was sort of grateful that the boy was asleep throughout all the hatred.

Occasionally, the child would toss or turn ever-so-slightly, and grumble or mutter something, but then he'd just raise his fist to rest on Kakashi's chest beside his own cheekbone, where he could easily fend off any sort of threat.

"Hokage...Hokage...Kohage...Kohage...Kogahe...Gokahe... Hokage...SAmmmmmmA!"

Yes, he was an odd little fellow.

-R-

At around two p.m., the two Uchiha boys passed by. The older, Itachi, had his little brother, Sasuke, in tow, leading him by the hand to a 'cool training-spot'. Kakashi knew better. He knew very well that Itachi liked to go to more closed-off areas to train, not because he thought the audience was bothersome, but because there were always sceeming people around who would simply love to find out exactly how the Uchihas' jutsu worked and what the Sharingan precisely entailed. If it were just a problem of screaming fangirls squeeling at the sidelines, he could deal with that. He could even perform a little smile and tell them something sharp that would make their hearts melt straight down to sink to the soles of their feet. Or even better, he could hold up his little brother and display his cuteness to get away and run off if necessary. But as an ANBU-member, he'd learned to realize there was ALWAYS a threat. There were ALWAYS enemies around, no matter where you went. You couldn't trust anyone .

Apparently, though, the only person he did trust, was his little brother. Who, in turn, tried to make his brother proud of him by pretending to be just as stoic and emotionally detached, walking proudly with a puffy chest and a slight bend in his knees as he walked to show just how leisure he was about this, as though he knew he had a rightful claim to some sort of throne and didn't have a care in the world. Yes, that would describe the Uchiha's perfectly.

Naruto, on the other hand, was a whole different case. Kakashi knew it. Even if Minato and Kushina had lived, and even if he would be supposed to be treated as precisely that; the son of the Hokage and his wife, legendary ninja from the late Whirlpool Village, he'd be the same hard-working little bugger he is today. Perhaps, if he hadn't stepped into the picture, he would be more of a goof-off, or would at least pretend to be. But that's why he was glad it wasn't so.

"..Kashii.." the boy yawned. "What time is it?"

"Around two. You up for some more training?"

"Training?" The boy's eyes lit up and his earlobes turned slightly more pinkish.

"How 'bout studying a cool new scroll?"

"...What?" The boy's face fell and he seemed disappointed.

"Alright, alright, kidding. Anyway, I've been thinking about it, and I guess it's fine for you to start practicing now."

"What is it? What is it?"

"Well, it's something I've been thinking about for quite some time."

"What? What?"

"You know all about chakra nature and all that, yes?"

"Yes, yes, the elements and stuff."

"And you know which wins from which?"

"Yeah. Water beats fire, fire beats wind, wind beats electricity, electricity beats earth and earth beats water. Like pokémon."

"...Right. Like pokémon. Anyway, I've been thinking about finding out your chakra nature. Wanna' try that out?"

"Yeah! Bring it on!"

"Alright. Here's a chakra slip."

"You mean a piece of paper."

"Nope. Chakra slip. Anyway, concentrate and pour your chakra into the slip."

"Like with tree-climbing?"

"Yup."

"Alright...Ha!"

The paper tore in half and Kakashi grinned behind his mask. Well done, Kushina.

"Your chakra nature is wind, congrats! Now, you see that tree over there?"

"..Yes?"

"It's got a lot of leaves, right?"

"Right."

"Well, I want you to climb that tree using chakra, and to pick off leaf by leaf and to do to those leaves what you did to the paper, alright?"

"All by myself?"

"Well, you can use your kage bunshin if you want."

"Alright! I'll take on this challenge!"

"You've been spending time with Gai and Lee again, haven't you?"

"...Only yesterday afternoon. They asked me if I wanted to go drink some ice tea with them."

"What'd I tell you about talking to strangers?"

"They're not strangers."

"They sure as hell are strange."

"Well we know them, right?"

"I'd rather not."

"Arrrgh. Whatever. I'm gonna go get to ... it. Whatever this training exercise is."

"Chakra control training."

"Oh. Okay."

And with a smile on his face, the boy headed off toward the oak tree somewhere near the path the two Uchiha boys had taken earlier.

"Aah.. Some peace and quiet."

"KAKASHI-SAN! MY ETERNAL RIVAL! LET'S HAVE A CONTEST!"

"Ugh."

-R-

After the never-ending battle with Gai, Kakashi decided it was about time to let his little charge take a break. It was getting a little late, too. It was probably about the time for Naruto to look up at him expectantly, without really saying anything. At first, it'd bothered Kakashi how the boy not only was too shy and unfamiliar with him to just ask for something if he wanted it, and how he expected Kakashi to be able to just tell what Naruto wanted, but now he sort of liked it. He liked it, because when he spoke to people or he was busy, there had never been the annoying little kid tugging on his sleeve, telling him he had to go to the bathroom or that he forgot something at home. There had never been "Hungry!" or "But I'm not tired!" when Naruto was younger. There was just that look. The look said it all, though it was only now that Kakashi understood which look meant what.

By now, though, it was time for that little, almost invisible furrowing of his brows, and for his lower lip to curl inwards just enough for Kakashi to realise it was the 'I'm hungry' look.

And in a few hours, it will turn into the 'droopy eyes and ajar mouth' look. That's when he's so tired he doesn't even realise his mouth his open and his eyes are nearly shut.

But right now, it was time for him to see how much progress his little charge had made. Speaking of which... Where was he?

Instead of panicking, the way he used to when he'd just adopted the boy who had a certain habit of disappearing suddenly, he looked around calmly, realising that losing his head over this would only make the situation worse. If it were any other kid, though, he'd just figure the child had wandered off, or found some other kids to play with. But this was Naruto; the bearer of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, most powerful demon in the world. He had to deal with this appropriately.

"Naruto! Hey, chibi! Where are you?!" he called out, appearing leisure about the whole matter to outsiders.

But usually, by now, he'd have seen a peak of yellow, or a flash of orange, or at least heard a giggle or a snore or something like that.

"Hmm... Maybe further into the forest..." he said, looking up at the bare-naked tree.

-R-

"TEMEEEEE!!! Who do you think you are, calling me a SCAMP!"

"Well then, where are your parents?"

"Don't speak that way, Sasuke."

"But, nii-san, it's true. He always just tramples about after academy-hours, and I've never seen his parents pick him up after school, or at the parent-teacher night."

Kakashi arrived, hiding away on the branch of a big tree. He saw Naruto standing below it, and the two Uchiha boys underneath a different tree not too far away from him. He saw a branch a little higher up in the tree he was sitting in, completely bare. Figuring he'd just used up all his chakra and fallen out, or gotten interested in what the Uchiha's were doing and... well.. was his usual, curious, outgoing little self.

"Doesn't make me a SCAMP!" Naruto shouted.

"Then why are you always moping about on the street?!"

Moping?

"I don't MOPE! And I'm just... promiscuous."

I didn't even know he knew that word.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. As long as YOU believe it."

"Sasuke. Enough. Naruto-kun, I hope we weren't interfering with your training."

The boy shrugged. "You weren't," he stated simply, in a sort of high-pitched tone.

That's right; you interfered with theirs

"Were you even training? It looked like you were picking at leaves."

"Well, as a MATTER OF FACT, I was ACTUALLY -- mmmmggrmm!"

Kakashi shut the boy's mouth with his hand and put his other hand on the kid's head to keep him there. "Hello, Itachi-san, Sasuke-san."

"Kakashi-senpai," Itachi noted, acting a little surprised, though Kakashi was pretty certain Itachi had had a vague feeling that someone was murking about.

"Who're you?" the little challenging Sasuke asked.

Itachi put a hand on the boy's shoulder and pulled him back a little. "That's Hatake Kakashi, a very well-known ninja here in Konoha."

"You mean the guy that stole Obito-nii-san's eye?"

(No, he isn't Sasuke's brother. I'm sure most of you well know that in anime they can even say nii-san to random people on the street. But for those of you who don't, well.. they can even say brother to random people on the street. Just like we would call a random dude "dude".)

"Now, Sasuke, that's a rumour." Itachi looked up at Kakashi and smiled such a feint smile you would only recognize it on Itachi. "In fact, Kakashi-senpai was given that eye by cousin Obito."

Kakashi still had his hand on Naruto's mouth when the boy looked up at him curiously. He'd never heard of that story, before. And he always used to wonder what Kakashi had that red eye for. When he'd asked, Kakashi had said that it was a gift from a friend, and Naruto used to think he wore a sole colour-lens that he got from that friend for his birthday or something.

"Given? But dad always says-"

"-Dad says a lot."

"Yeah, but what dad says is-"

"-Not always true."

"What about the day when-"

"-He didn't show up."

"Well how about-"

"We should get home. I'm sorry for the brief encounter, Kakashi-senpai."

"No problem, Itachi-san. It was nice to see you off the record. Didn't know you got free time."

"Yes. A lot of things have changed since you left."

"Have they? Well... I won't hold you two up. You should get home before your mother thinks you've been tiring Sasuke out too much."

The little raven-haired kid grinned cheekily, proud that someone else noticed how much he trained to be like his brother.

Naruto had gotten comfortable in the position he was standing in and looked down at the leaf in his hand. He shut it and focused his chakra for a while, opened his hand, and saw two halves of a split leaf spliced on his palm.

Even though Itachi had bowed swiftly, and Sasuke had copied him, being the obedient little brother he was, Kakashi caught that Itachi caught what Naruto had been doing, and was eyeing his little charge with interest.

Kakashi tossed the child over his shoulder before Itachi could ask, and held up two fingers on one hand, bidding them farewell and a safe trip home, before teleporting away.

-R-

An hour after Naruto's favourite meal, consisting of ramen and... well... ramen, he'd settled himself on the couch, where he was 'secretly' shredding pieces of paper out of his colouring-book from three years ago, cutting through the scraps of paper with his chakra. Under the impression Kakashi didn't notice cos the backrest was higher than his body was long in his sitting position, he was pretty proud of himself and his stealthiness. That is, up until Kakashi tore the plastified straw off the carton of strawberry milk, ripped it open, and poked the straw through the aluminium-hole. He leaned onto the backrest of the couch, lazily looking down at the heap of youth focusing on what once was the hand of mickey mouse, poking the straw through the hard line which usually was a mouth. Naruto lost his focus and, startled, he pulled back. To avoid spillage Kakashi made sure the straw remained in his mouth and helped his hands hold on to the carton milk box.

When the three-second-panic was over, Naruto pulled the straw out of his mouth and looked at the carton. Raising a brow, he said, "Strawberry milk? I'm ten years old; milk is for babies."

Kakashi sighed. Just a week ago you thought it was the best invention ever. "You're nine, Naruto. If you don't want it, I'll have it." He lowered his mask and took the proferred carton, sipping at the overly-sweetened flavouring of strawberry and milk; things that definitely shouldn't go together, in his mind.

The boy's big, curious eyes, stared up at him. He found the gaze rather unnerving, so he looked down at the scarred-up face, absentmindedly dreading what had happened to the boy that left a permanent mark on his features, which everyone could see, day in, day out.

"Kakashi?"

"Hmm?" The man was sort of relieved to finally get a question out of the boy instead of the painful silence that usually came with curious staring.

"Why do you hide something that was a gift?"

"Excuse me?" Perhaps the sentence was a little too blunt, or maybe his pronunciation was just off, but for some reason, it didn't sound right to Kakashi's ears.

"Why do you hide something that was a gift?" Naruto repeated, only with more bewilderment and better expression of his vowels.

"You mean why I don't show everyone something I got as a gift?"

"Yeah."

"Well, because I'd be bragging if I did."

"But now people think you stole it," the boy replied, sad for Kakashi.

"Hmm..." Kakashi took another sip of the milk and pondered the thought. "Well," he said then, putting a hand on the blonde's head, "I think that as long as you know the truth, it's alright with me."

Naruto turned around and sat up a little straighter, before bringing his knees up on the couch and reaching out to Kakashi's headband. He shifted it upwards, letting it rest where it normally should be, and gazed into Kakashi's sharingan eye with wonder.

After a while of silence he said, "It was nice of him to do that."

"Do what?"

"Give you those lenses."

It took Kakashi about seven seconds to burst out laughing hysterically, and it would take Naruto another two years to understand exactly why.

-R-

"Woooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaw!"

Kakashi twisted his body sideways a little to see what the boy was 'wowing' so intensely about. It was a simple pair of goggles. Honestly, on the whole wall of ugly eyewear, Kakashi found the flashy yellow goggles to be disturbingly repulsive.

So, in a way, he was pleased to see the child put them down and look at the others. "Wow! I can see orange with these! It.. seems so... warm."

Kakashi held his hand out and looked at the goggles the boy deposited in his outstretched hand. They were quite nice, compared to the others, with black rubber straps, which formed into a heavy kind of shiny black leather, with purple stitching and a purple patch of a star on the left side. The goggles were tinted orange, and it was possible to turn them around the edges to see further like binoculors would allow you to.

They were pretty cheap, too. The ugly yellow ones were double the price, and for what? A little more leather? Ridiculous.

"You want 'em?"

"Eh?" Naruto looked up, surprised.

It bothered Kakashi a little, to be honest. For six years Naruto had been living under his care and still, the boy got all shy on him whenever he offered to get him something. He'd hoped Naruto would get close enough to him to be that type of annoying kid who wants every kind of candy in the store.

"They make the world sunnier, right?"

"..Yes."

"Then wouldn't it make you happy to wear them?"

"... I think so... yes."

"Then, wouldn't you like to have them?"

"I... I don't... maybe, I.."

Kakashi would rather have said he didn't believe it, but when the kid started blushing he simply understood why. There was no reason to go deeper in on the subject. Naruto just wasn't that type of kid.

So he placed the goggles in the mall trolley and rolled it around to find some more of that cleaning product he liked the smell of.

-R-

Once outside, Naruto, who was carrying the less-heavy brown bag stocked with goods, 'tripped' over someone's leg.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, we're so very sorry! We didn't realise you were already getting GROCERIES with your MASTER! What's this? Why, what a nice pair of goggles! Such a nice gift, wouldn't you say? You know what we're lucky to get each day? The bed that doesn't fall apart in the middle of the night, or a room with less than thirty people in it! But you're doing great, aren't you? With your raspberry jam and your new clothes and your fucking goggles!! You're doing just fine, ain't you, you SPOILED BRAT!"

Just before the girl who seemed about a year or two older than Naruto could deliver a hit to the head to the boy, Kakashi held her wrist in a tight grip and asked, "Who, dare I ask, are you?"

The girl wanted to pull her arm away, but Kakashi was too strong, so she simply shook her head to the right swiftly and 'tsked', replying softly, "Haritsozu Rika."

"And who's that?" Kakashi asked, nudging his head toward the boy standing behind her, with black hair and green eyes.

Rika, with her red-brown hair and black eyes, said, "That's Ke."

"Ke who?"

She was getting pretty frustrated by Kakashi's desire to know everything and was yanking her arm away with little to no force, something that piqued the jounin's curiosity even more.

"What does it matter?! Who are YOU?!"

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I am the guardian of the boy you just tried to harm. Let me make it clear to you that it will not happen."

"Pf! Such mighty words from a guy so short!"

Kakashi's neck nearly snapped in two what with the way he just dropped his head to the side with disbelief. "Short?" he repeated.

"Yeah! My dad's much taller than you are!"

Ke, who had been silently blending into the background this whole time, a boy with small stature and hair that almost completely covered his eyes, went around the two bickering people and hugged Naruto sideways, appearing happy to see the boy again.

Naruto, clearly not knowing what to do, patted the other on the head and said, "Long time no see, Kelian."

"Oi!" the girl called, "Ke, what're you doing?! He's not one of us anymore!"

"Demo.. " Kelian nearly whispered, voice raspy and eyes downcast. (but)

"One of us?" Kakashi repeated.

"Yeah! The moment he stayed in a house for at least 5 straight, ongoing years," the girl said, holding up her hand to demonstrate the number 'five', "he rejected his role as 'Scartails' and lost it! Ain't that right, Zippywhisper?"

"Rika.. I'm sorry I didn't come to visit you more often..."

"HA!" Rika laughed, throwing her hands at her sides and glaring degradingly at him. "Zippywhisper and Redblast can manage fine on their own! Besides, we got a new member now, to replace Scartails!"

Meanwhile, all the nicknames had started to confuse Kakashi, and he was having trouble believing that those three or four years at the Home could really have meant something to these kids. Technically, they only hung out for real for about a year or so, cos little children don't 'hang out', they hurt, laugh, and poop.

"Chief!" the girl called out, looking up.

Kakashi followed her gaze, only to take in the sight of a boy with blue hair and yellow-ish eyes, wearing a long black jacket over black clothes. .. Emo...

The boy jumped down from the rooftop he was standing on and whiped his nose. "This yammering droolface?"

Naruto looked up dejectedly and spat, "My NAME'S Naruto! If you want to call me Scartails, so be it, but I'm not yammering droolface or whatever, you lowlife!"

"Yammer yammer yammer!"

They all started shouting through each other's cusses, even Kelian, who'd seemed like the perfect innocent person only moments ago but turned into a wild hedgehog the moment Naruto called Kira an annoying bratty snob.

When they started throwing punches at each other, Kakashi picked the blonde up from amidst the pack of kids by the scruff of his T-shirt, who was still kicking and punching wildly in mid-air with shut eyes

"What the heck is going on?" Kakashi asked.

Rika sighed irritatedly. "Look, doofbrains, we-"

"HEY! DON'T CALL KAKASHI DOOFBRAINS, YOU FLAT-CHESTED BITCH!"

"Naruto, calm down." Deep inside Kakashi felt this overwhelming heat blooming in his chest, realizing that the boy had just 'defended' him like he would defend his best friend or father. He guessed, after all, when Naruto was like a shy kid to him, he could be like a wild little tiger to others. Perhaps that was a good thing.

"FLAT-CHEST?!?!" Rika repeated, obviously unbothered by the 'bitch' part.

"Listen here, you yammering yammer," Chief cut in, "you're just jealous cos you aren't part of the group anymore!"

"AM NOT!"

"QUIET!!" Kakashi yelled, immediately regretting it when his usually under-used vocal chords rasped in his throat. "Now," he said, setting the blonde down on the ground, "would anyone care to explain what the heck is going on?!"

"It's not so difficult, you know," Rika groaned, holding her palm to her forehead.

Kelian explained: "We used to be a team. Like a three-man-cell. Back in the orphanage."

But I never saw anyone being kind to him in the Home... Then again, I was only there for a few moments.

"He used to be Scartails," Chief said, pointing at Naruto, "because of his scars and how he'd get tails in the middle of the night."

"Don't talk about me like you know all about me! You used to be with the Lettergrumpies, ' Chie-ief ', so stop acting like you're better than me! You're only a REPLACEMENT!"

"REPLACEMENT?!" Chief repeated bewildered, shouting even louder than Naruto had.

The jinchuuriki was already heating his lungs and filling them with air, but Kakashi covered his mouth in time before he could shout back.

"So what about the rest of you?"

"Well, that's Zippywhisper," Rika said, pointing at Ke, "cos he's really fast but he's quiet most of the time. And I'm Redblast, cos I'm fiesty and strong!"

"Actually it's cos you've got a bad temper and your strengths are offence instead of defence," Ke whispered.

"Whatev'. And he's Chief, cos he used to be one of the kids who always stayed in the library but when Scartails ABANDONED us, we needed someone else who was good at making up plans. So we decided that he would be Chief."

"I didn't abandon you!" Naruto said from behind Kakashi's hand.

"What-EVER! We don't care about you anymore! We just wanted to let you know that you're definitely an enemy from now on!"

"Why?" the sad little blonde asked.

"Because you were leading this luxurious life but never even considered coming to see us! We understand that you've been in other families where they beat you up so bad you couldn't even make it to the front-door without passing out or risking getting killed, but the moment you found a family that treated you the way it should, the way we ALL want to be treated, you should've come to see us! At least ONCE!"

"But I did!"

"When?!" Rika barked.

"In the beginning!"

"That was ONE TIME!"

"You said ONCE!"

"Yeah, well, I mean somewhere between the course of those five years! Seriously, you didn't even show up on Ke's birthday! He waited for you EVERY YEAR! Even I expected you to show up at one point! But you never did!"

By now, Naruto was in tears, and Kakashi felt the overpowering desire to help his little charge out of this mess. He put a hand on the kid's shoulder and pulled him back behind his leg, growling, "He didn't visit because I didn't want him anywhere near the place where he got treated poorly. If you wanna' bitch on someone, then go ahead and insult me for all I care, just don't expect me to give a damn."

He realised it was unfair, and he actually felt bad for these children who got left behind. But it wasn't like he could sacrifice one for the sake of others. He wasn't like that. Not anymore. Naruto meant more to him than these kids did, and his words were semi-correct. He really didn't want Naruto anywhere near the orphanage. And he had a feeling that Naruto didn't want to visit them because he would only make them feel bad. He had a hunch the boy just wanted them to forget all about him and consider him a deserter, instead of feeling like they weren't good enough to get adopted. He wanted them to think that Naruto was trash and therefore he got weeded out. Or something along those lines. That's just how Naruto was.

"Wha'--you-you?" Rika blabbed.

"Yes. I kept him away from the Home."

"Why would you do such a thing you jerk?!"

"I already told you; it was filled with memories of a past I didn't want him to remember."

"Then for us! Why didn't you let him visit his FRIENDS?!"

"In the first year or so Naruto barely spoke to me. I didn't even know you guys existed."

Rika turned to Naruto, offended. "You didn't tell him?"

"What was I supposed to say?"

"Oh, I dunno', perhaps maybe that you MISSED US!"

"But I didn't want to. I didn't want you guys to miss me."

"What do you mean?" Ke asked, looking up from behind his long bangs.

"I... I figured that, that if you guys just forgot about me... maybe you'd feel better.."

"Better? About what?" Rika snapped.

"About not getting adopted you fools."

Kakashi was surprised to find that Chief had answered the question. The boy looked like he was close to tears, which made it clear to the jounin that the kid was wearing lenses.

"Are you stupid or what? Can't you see that Naruto-kun was doing it for your sakes?" Chief asked, bewildered. "I'm so sorry, Scartails, I shouldn't have called you those names. You're very honorable indeed." Chief went over to shake Naruto's hand, who, in turn, shook back with surprised blue eyes.

"I don't know what all this means, really... But... I believe Scartails was doing it for us..." Ke said, going over to hug Naruto from the side again.

Rika folded her arms across her chest and turned the other way, going "Hmph!" but opening an eye to peek at the trio a few seconds later. Naruto smiled at her uncertainly, in an apologizing way. And Rika, being the type who looked like an older sister on the inside but a raging current on the outside, smiled back at him, muttering, "Goof" before going over to him too and thumping him on the head softly.

"Rikaaa~" Naruto half-whined, half-sung, appearing most happy between both Rika and Kelian. And perhaps even Chief.

Kakashi felt out of place, like a broken piece of a puzzle. Like he just didn't fit in with them all, only with Naruto, who was happier being with his friends. So he put a hand on the boy's head, said, "Be home by seven", and turned around to head home. He picked the brown bag at his feet up, which had been previously carried by Naruto.

"Kakashi?" the boy asked, turning to face him. It wasn't out of the ordinary that Kakashi just told him to be home by a certain hour, like when he went out to train or 'discover what Konoha was all about'. It's just that this time it felt different. Almost... like a parallel universe

"Hey, hey, hey! You're not going to tell me that after keeping Naruto locked away in a house for years that you aren't going to let us inspect, are you?" Rika demanded.

"Inspect?" Kakashi repeated, sweat-dropping.

"Yup!" Ke said, cheerily.

"We've got to make sure Naruto-kun is staying a safe and healthy environment!" Chief explained.

"That so?" Kakashi asked, smirking behind his mask.

"Damn straight!"

"Well then, I guess I don't have another option, do I?"

And with that, the five Konoha citizens took off toward Kakashi's place.

-R-

"Woohoaaaw! What's this?" Rika asked, upon entering Naruto's room.

"Some kind of lamp that looks like it's got lumps of lava in it."

"You mean a lavalamp?" Chief asked.

"Smartass."

Chief merely sniggered.

"And this?" Ke asked this time, pointing at the switch on the wall.

"Oh, that's for if I have trouble sleeping. You can flip it if you want."

Ke flipped the switch up and looked at the ceiling, staring in awe at the stars stuck on the ceiling.

"Kakashi sometimes puts up a Genjutsu, to make the stars move."

"Really? Cool!" Rika beamed.

"Is this from the academy?" Chief wondered, checking out a history book from Naruto's previous year.

"Yeah. It's the only book we didn't have to return. You can have it if you want, I HATE history."

"For real?! Thanks, Naruto-kun! I'll cherish it with all my heart!"

Rika stuck out her tongue in a disgusted manner, causing Naruto and Kelian to chuckle.

"Who's this?" Ke asked suddenly, holding up a little brown creature.

"That's Pakkun, Kakashi's dog. He can talk."

The other three looked at Naruto in a way that meant 'Don't say that so nonchallantly' and turned back to look at the dog, who was half-asleep and muttering under its breath.

"Coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool," the thee exclaimed, gawking at the creature.

"Oh, I know this cool game if you guys want to play! It's called 'Spit'."

"You mean, like spitting on each-other?" Ke whispered.

"No, you doof! That's disgusting, even for me!" Rika lectured.

"It's a game that requires a low level of intellect and is harder on the muscles than the mind. Right, Naruto-kun?"

"Er... Yeah... I guess... Anyway, it's this cool game where you're supposed to follow up on a certain card real quick! I'll explain it to you guys once I've found a good deck of cards! Wait here!"

The boy rushed out of the room to the living room, where he looked through the cupboart for the best deck of cards he had. He'd worn most of the decks out with Kakashi, playing stuff like 'Go fish', 'President', 'Spit' and 'I doubt it'.

Kakashi, himself, was laying leisurely on the couch, reading his erotic novel with the green hardcover.

"What's up?" the man asked, upon realizing his charge was searching from something frantically.

"I'm just looking for a deck of cards so we can play Spit. Wanna' play?"

"No thanks, I'm sure you've got a lot of catching up to do with your friends. Besides, I'm going out to get ramen for us in a few minutes, anyway."

"You mean-- they-they're staying over to eat with us?"

"Yeah. Why, don't you want them to?" Kakashi asked, suddenly feeling worried.

Naruto turned away, looking down, shadows cast upon his face. He was trembling and because Kakashi couldn't read his expression, he assumed the worst. And just when the boy balled his fists and he was about to mention that it didn't matter in the least whatever the hell those stupid pricks wanted to do and that if he wanted them out they'd be gone in a flash, Naruto tackled Kakashi against the couch in a bone-crushing hug, telling him over and over again how much he appreciated it and wouldn't let Kakashi regret it.

And throughout this whole experience, all the jounin could think was, Jeez, it's just dinner. It's not like I'm going to adopt them. Wait -- does he think I'm going to adopt them?!?!

It was too late to ask, though, since Naruto had already taken off with a green deck of cards in his left and Pakkun in his right.

-R-

When they'd all finished their meals, it was time for the orphans to depart. It surprised Kakashi that Naruto didn't once ask him to consider taking them in, and he was relieved to find out that it seemingly hadn't even come to the blonde's mind. I'm probably just paranoid, he thought, though somewhere deep inside he was sort of under the impression that Naruto was planning something.

Because even after they had hugged each-other about a gazillion times, he still didn't seem ready to actually let them walk through the front-door, as though it would be the last time he'd see them all.

"Ke! Rika! Wait!" he shouted when they were halfway down the street, bursting into his room and zipping out the front-door after them, with something in his hand and under his arm. Kakashi watched from the kitchen window as he handed Kelian one of the stars that used to stick to his ceiling and gave light when it was dark, and handed Rika his lavalamp.

"They sort of resembled the two of you. I didn't realize that until now, but... when I had trouble sleeping the first year, it was probably because I missed you guys so much. And when I found the two things I liked the most, my Ke who made me see that there's always a light in even the darkest places, and my Rika who showed me that you've got to be strong and keep yourself together when everyone's trying to break you down, I guess I sort of wanted to make you guys let me go, because I didn't deserve your friendship. I left you guys... and I'm sorry."

"Don't be silly!" Rika laughed, thumping Naruto on the head again. "Just make sure you visit us more often this time!"

Kelian hugged him and nuzzled his face into his shoulder, much like a dog would.

And even the Chief couldn't hold back his tears at this point and the three of them crushed Naruto in a big group-hug.

"To Konoha's Protectors!" they recited.

Kakashi figured it was just another funky name they came up with on a lonely Christmas eve.

-R-

Later that night, Naruto had trouble sleeping. And the jounin in the room down the hallway, wasn't surprised to feel the blankets on the other side of the bed shift upwards and a body sliding in behind him. He'd gotten pretty used already, to that little hand on his back, checking if he was still breathing. The content huff was another sign that the boy felt safe now, and was ready to sleep.

Kakashi rolled around and flung his arm over the boy protectively, pretending to still be asleep for a few more peaceful seconds before whispering, "You did well."

Naruto's bright blue eyes, which seemed to light up in the dark, snapped open wide, and he looked at his guardian, who gazed back at him with his sharingan eye and his own, black one.

Strangely enough, the red, slowly spinning eye, was kind of comforting to Naruto.

"I think I know the answer, now."

"To?"

"Why you don't want to show everyone that eye."

"Hmm?"

"Cos it's yours. And you don't want anyone to take it from you."

"Close."

"...Cos you're ashamed. And you're scared you did something wrong..."

"Which is why, you don't want anyone to take it from you. It was your mistake and you're making up for it." Naruto yawned and turned around, absentmindedly curling Kakashi's fingers open and closed, while dozing off.

"Hmph," Kakashi snorted, smiling. "You're quite the handful, y'know that?"


	20. Such a handful (Pt 2)

I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC. (Except my Hinata of course #Evil Laugh)

 **Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf: Thank you for review!**

 **Pat123: Don't worry I won't going anywhere lol**

 **marley: Oh really, man? I thought you already weak just before you read this 'shit'.**

 **sultryvoice: Thank you, I'm glad you like it. #ThumbsUp**

The playground was wet and the rain was pelting down on hooded heads heavily. It felt like tiny needles, or rocks perhaps, attacking the scalps of little children as they slipped and fell and stood back up again to continue their game of tag. Their little rubber boots squeeked as they ran and their scarves flapped around in the heavy winds that blew them against the academy walls.

Naruto was shivering. He hugged his pale blue knees and tried his best to stop the clattering of his teeth, but to no avail. He sneezed for the nth time that day and rubbed at his goose-bumped arms repeatedly, trying to warm them, as his loss of his jacket left him cold and... different.

It always used to be the small things. It started out with him just not belonging to any kind of group. He didn't belong anywhere. And it was obvious, too. He never fit in with the other children, who were always so up-to-date with everything new in stores. Those kids who all bought the same Tekri-cap, or red fingerless gloves with the special patch on them. He never fit in. How was he to get something like that? No... Besides, even if he had the money, nobody would sell clothes to a demon.

And then you always had the distinct hair-and-eye-colour nobody actually understood. Sure, there were loads of people in Konoha with an original eye-colour, or a bloodline that passed on a special colour of hair. But the blonde with the blue eyes?! It wasn't Japanese at all. It was not like them. He was different. He wasalways different.

They were smarter than him. He missed out on too much to fully understand what they thought was 'important'. To them, not being allowed to play outside after five, was the worst thing that could happen. To him, being kicked out of a house before it was even five o'clock, was one of the worst things that could ever happen.

Then there were the birthdays. Oh, he could never forget the birthdays. They all celebrated them. They all gathered together to spend a wonderful time on a glorious day as such. All he used to do on his birthday was run from the horde of people trying to kill him.

And all that, until Kakashi walked into the picture...

The bell rang, but Naruto didn't get up. He didn't feel like moving. He didn't feel like going anywhere. He couldn't help but wonder why, why on God's green earth, why for the love of all that's good in this thing that passes for life, why he always had to be the one who got abandoned.

He was staring out into open space like a zombie while children filed into the school like the good little students they were. None of them turned around to even glance his way. He wasn't worth it.

And so, Naruto sat, for what appeared an hour or two, outside in the cold and the pouring rain, with so much as a flimsy little black T-shirt and thin, worn grey shorts. They were torn and shredded, from spending days outside by himself.

Always, and most inevitably, by himself.

"Naruto?"

There was a brief passing of a hand passed his arm and something warm wrapped around him. He didn't feel like recognizing the person's presence and turned his vacant face downwards to stare at the ground.

"Naruto, it's cold out here, you've got to come inside."

Silence.

"Come on, you're gonna' get ill."

Worry. Actual worry laced in this person's voice. It couldn't be anyone but Iruka-sensei, the one who worries about every one of his students. He probably heard about the fact that he'd been ditched again by the Hokage. Or perhaps Kakashi told him personally.

For some reason, thinking about Kakashi made the boy's stomach flip, so he blocked his image out and tried to think of something else.

"Naruto?"

Again, he got no response. He shook the child's shoulder, but all it got him was a bigger bubble of paranoïa in the pit of his stomach, so he picked the boy up and went back inside with him. As he walked through the school's hallways, his limbs limply swung up and down with every step he took. Almost like he was carrying a doll.

 **In class**

Nobody wanted the boy in the teacher's lounge, so Iruka was lucky enough to find nobody there being it so that these hours were occupied by all teachers. He placed the jinchuuriki on one of the sofa's near the door, which were meant to be used by parents who came to talk about something. What he'd learned was that the right seating and additional teas or cookies, always influence the way parents react toward certain things you say.

He put a hand on both of the blonde's shoulders and repeated the name he'd called previously. "Naruto?"

Thick silence edged between the two and the Chuunin found it hard to get through to the boy.

"Naruto, I'm going to need you to answer to me," he spoke softly and calmly, trying to let him know he wasn't trying to harm him.

"Naruto, please." He was desperate, now. Just looking into those sad, faraway eyes, he had to wonder how much he had grown attached to Kakashi to suddenly fade from the scene the moment the man's out of the picture. He was curious as to how much the jounin really meant to him.

But there really was no getting any kind of reply or even the faintest look of acknowledgement on the child's face. He placed both hands on either sides of the boy's face and pressed their foreheads together as he bit his lip and fought the tears away. Naruto was just absently staring onwards, probably lost in a dull kind of morphine-world of his own. Iruka shook and cradled the boy in his arms.

"Poor child," he whispered before standing up and straightening the two of them out again. He wanted to bring him to Kakashi, but he knew there was no such thing happening now or ever again. He had gotten strict orders not to persuade Kakashi to take him in again. And it wasn't like he thought the jounin was the one who kicked Naruto out. He was well-aware of the fact that the ex-anbu nin would take the pre-genin back within a fingersnap. It's just that the Hokage's orders go beyond and before all other concerns.

"Back to the orphanage it is, then.."

There wasn't even a glint of fear or sorrow in Naruto's eyes. He just didn't care anymore...

-R-

It wasn't even ten minutes after Iruka had dropped the blonde off at the orphanage that they kicked him straight out again. And the blonde, after whiping the snow off his clothes, stood up nonchallantly and slouched through the streets of Konoha, not even turning to look at those insulting him.

There was some greenbean jounin, whom Naruto recognized as Kakashi's arch-rival, who actually gave him a look of sadness when a large stone pelted at his head and the blonde didn't even spin around quickly to see who did it. He didn't even give the attacker a look of, "Why? Why me?". He just didn't do anything at all.

-R-

Naruto didn't even realize where he was going until he stopped and sat down on the steps of the front-porch. Upon sitting down, he lifted his hands and stared at them, then at his surroundings, like a complete lunatic with a mental disorder. It was obvious he hadn't known where he was until now and that he was completely out of it.

It was then that he spotted a sole charcoal eye staring at him with wonder and surprise, hovering above a little orange book held by a jounin-clad body on the swing-bench he used to spend hours in the past. Yes; that was now 'the past'.

"N-Naruto?" Kakashi asked, completely dazed. He could tell the boy really didn't know what he was doing here or how he got here in the first place, and he was actually disappointed when the little blonde ran off the moment he said his name. The child's pupils dialated and he ran as far as his little, scarred-up legs could carry him.

-R-

The next time Kakashi saw Naruto was three days later, upon delivering his mission-report in the Hokage's building. The little blonde had been walking around absently with a blank sheet of paper in his hand and a simple blue crayon in his other. On his way back out of the Hokage's mansion, he walked by the room the blonde had been coloring in and saw the paper on the little drawing-table, completely decorated in swirls and whirls that meant completely nothing. Perhaps what was going on inside the blonde's head, but besides that... And Kakashi knew the kid was perfectly capable of drawing something way better than that; he'd seen some of his drawings before. This was the handiwork of a three-year-old, not a six-year-old.

When he'd exited the facility, he saw the boy on his knees out front, simply staring out into nothingness as people passed by him and occasionally spat on him or hurt him. He wanted to help him; he really did ! But right here, out front, where the Hokage could easily see him through his window... He'd made a vow.

But what did it matter?! He scolded himself for being such a fool and rushed over to the kid helplessly. He knealed down before the boy and snapped his fingers infront of his eyes to get him out of the daze he was trapped in.

"Naruto! NARUTO!"

Nope, nobody home.

"Naruto, come on!" He shook him just hard enough to get his head tilted up a little to stare at the jounin curiously.

"It's me! Kashi! Can't you recognize my voice? It's me."

But there was nothing. No reply. No response. Not a tick, or a flick of an arm. He had already given up all hope on the man.

"Naruto, come on! Give me something! React! Look, look at this!" He did a quick summoning jutsu and made a little plush fox appear on the ground before him. He picked it up and held it up before the jinchuuriki.

"Look, it's Faw!" He pressed it against the blonde's chest, but Naruto was still gawking onwards, over Kakashi's shoulder to look at passer-by's.

"Please... please, Naruto!"

Nobody had ever heard such a tone come from the famous copy-cat ninja, and some people stopped walking to stare at the two.

"C'mon, I know you're still in there! What happened to you? Did they do something to you?"

"It's you, Kakashi," a voice suddenly said from behind him.

Iruka appeared into vieuw and he knealed down beside the jounin, stroking Naruto's blonde locks as the boy kept staring at other things without blinking once. He smiled gently, though his eyes revealed sorrow and disappointment. Kakashi suddenly felt a wave of shame overwhelm him and he tried to hide it by fixing his gaze back onto Naruto.

"He misses you."

"But I'm right here! If he misses me, then he should acknowledge my presence."

"You don't get it, do you?!" Iruka hissed, "His whole life, he's been kicked in and out of families! Do you think he would actually consider the fact that you were helping the village or that you really love him but couldn't find another way to solve this? Of course not! He's a six-year-old jinchuuriki who's hated by the whole goddamn village ! The first thing that comes to his mind is that he just wasn't good enough, just like all those other times. You played him, Kakashi. You deceived him. You made him believe you loved him and then you threw him away like trash."

"That's not true," the jounin growled, "you know it isn't true, so don't be a fool."

"I know it isn't, but he's still under that impression."

"Then what do I do about it?"

"I don't have the answer to that, Kakashi. You've dug a too-deep hole for me to find a way out of. That is up to you, now."

Iruka was about to leave, but the jounin's words glued him to the floor. "I... I did it.. for him."

Silence. Long, breezy silence. Then the academy-teacher turned his head around and gently stated, "I know you did."

Kakashi picked the blonde up and carried him back home like a puppet. He was the marrionette, but he wasn't pulling the child's strings the way he always did. He'd cut those strings abruptly, a while ago. Now he was simply taping them back together. But he knew just as well as Naruto knew, that a broken puppet will not dance for his master.

-R-

"Look; it's your favourite." The bowl circled in front of his face for a while, tipping a little bit from left to right. Kakashi put the bowl back down and sighed. He snapped a pair of chopsticks and squeezed some noodles inbetween them, holding them up close to the blonde's mouth.

"Mmm," he went, sniffing the smell that wafted from them and trying to make the meal look appetizing. But he got no reaction from the kid.

"Delicious," he lied, since he wasn't such a fan of Ramen.

When Naruto made no move whatsoever to take over the chopsticks or anything at all, he took the child's jaw and pinched it gently to open it, placed a couple of noodles between his teeth and shut it again. But he didn't chew. He didn't swallow. He didn't move. Not at all.

"Come on, Naruto! Do something!!"

But there was no movement whatsoever.

"You're tired, that's it." He brushed his hand through the boy's hair and picked him up. "You're just tired," he convinced himself.

He entered his own room and layed down with the jinchuuriki beside him, drawing him close and embracing him tightly from behind.

"I know you're still in there," he whispered, "I know you're there, Naruto."

-R-

It was one a.m. when the little blonde shifted and lifted the jounin's arm off of him. He opened the door and walked through the hall, down the stairs, toward the front-door, where he jumped for the keys on the hook to his right. Upon realizing he couldn't reach them, he headed for the kitchen where he climbed up on the counter and opened the window.

"Naruto."

He turned and came face-to-face with his guardian, who was simply standing at the entrance to the kitchen, face emotionless and blank.

"Naruto get down from there."

But the boy's eyes soon started to dialate panically and shivers shot and spread out underneath his skin. The hair on his arms and the nape of his neck electrified and straightened. He brought his hands to the surface of the countertop and hunched down like an animal.

"Naruto, it's alright; it's me; I won't harm you."

The bright blue eyes dulled down and he gazed at his clawed hand before parting his lips slightly, about to speak. He couldn't find the right words, though, and helplessly searched through his vocabulary like he was a transfer-student in France.

"You know I'd never harm you. You do. I know you do."

The jinchuuriki was still looking for the words to say.

"Say it. Say it, Naruto: say that I would never hurt you. That's what you want to say, isn't it? Go ahead. Say it."

But the blonde shook his head violently and screamed, "NEVER GET CLOSE! NEVER GET CLOSE! NEVER ATTACH! NEVER LOVE!!" before clawing at the window agressively, trying to open it. When he had finally gotten the handle up and the window open, he pounced through it and darted away as fast as he could.

But his efforts were in vain when a certain silverhaired jounin appeared in front of him and caused him to bump into a hard chest before falling backwards.

"Calm down, Naruto."

The boy shook his head rambunctiously and got up again. "YOU-- YOU STAY AWAY!"

"Why?" he demanded, stopping the boy from running away again. He grabbed his arm tightly and continued, "Tell me what's bothering you, quit running. You know what you want to say; now say it."

Soft blue orbs linked with a choal one and locked it in a fixed gaze. "You abandoned me," Naruto ground out and pulled his arm out of the menacing grasp before turning away, about to flee again but the jounin grabbed his other arm and stopped him in his tracks. He pulled him backwards and held him tightly. Leaning his forehead on the back of the spiky patch of blonde, he muttered,

"I know."

Naruto could swear he felt the man's sorrow radiate from his body onto his, and he could hear in his voice how clear the guilt was. It was like a thick pressured bubble of air that caught him and the boy and bound them to the suffocating emotion.

"I know I abandoned you. But I want you to know I did it for you; not to you."

"Why?! What did you get out of this?!" Naruto snapped, trying to squirm himself out of his guardian's arms, but failing.

"You're healthy. You're better."

"Why does that have anything to do with this?!"

"You were sick for a while because the chakra inside of you turned against you. That's because of me. I had to stay away from you for a while so you could get better. But if we stay together again, you'll just ge sick again."

"So you hated me because I was sick?!"

"NO! No, I didn't hate you. And I didn't leave you out of fear, either. Naruto, you have to understand, I-"

But the blonde had already heard enough of it and pulled away agressively. "Stop talking," was all he said before walking away once more. The jounin followed him, but he ignored the man.

"Why?"

"Stop talking! I don't want to know you!" It was an obvious lie that Kakashi saw through, but it still panged at his heart.

He shoofed around him and halted two inches in front of him. "Oh really?" he inquired, raising a brow distinctively.

"Really! I never liked you!"

"Aw, c'mon," the rough suggestion rang through his ears as Kakashi picked him up and let him hang in mid-air.

"Put me down! I hate you!"

"Suuure you do. Didn't you miss me just a little bit?"

"NO! Now get away from me! You left me, it's over!! YOU HAD YOUR FUN, NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!!"

Kakashi startled so badly he nearly dropped the kid. "Fun?" he repeated, meeting Naruto's angry glare, "You think I had fun..??"

But the child didn't reply.

"You think I had fun..." the jounin confirmed, setting him down on the ground before sagging back against the wall in the front-street to the Hatake mansion they were currently standing in. He fell through his knees and dropped down on the floor with a thump.

Naruto just stared at him coldly for a while before the look in his eyes softened and he felt sorry for the man. He didn't know why; it was HIM who abandoned the jinchuuriki, and yet still he could tell that Kakashi didn't mean to hurt him at all.

"K..Kashi?" He drew closer to the ex-anbu slowly and knealed down before him. "A-are you okay?"

But the man was simply staring ahead of himself, much like Naruto had before. It looked like he was lost in another world. Lost in sorrow, regret, but most of all.. guilt. He had obviously let down someone very important to him and it wasn't Naruto.

"Kashi, I..." He shuffled closer to the man and lifted his arm before wrapping it around himself and embracing the older male. "I didn't mean it," he said, placing his tiny hands on the sides of the man's face and trying to look him in the eye.

"Kashi! Please! Come back! I didn't mean it; I swear!" He burried his face in the jounin's chest and wiped the dampness out of his eyes.

"Don't go!! Don't leave me!! Come back!! ... Please ... Don't abandon me..." He was crying at this point and cursed himself for not believing the man earlier.

But suddenly a hand rested firmly ontop of his head and ruffled through his honey-coloured hair. Another arm slipped tighter around him and drew him close.

"I could never abandon you, Naruto. Not even if I wanted to."

"Kashi.. I'm sorry.." the child cried, happy to find himself not only acknowledged, seen and heard, but also embraced and loved.

"No worries. There is no reason for you to apologize. It is I who is sorry."

"I.. I like being with Kashi. I don't want Kashi to feel bad. Don't go. Don't be sorry. Just go on like nothing happened." There was a brief pause and an amazed look from the older male, until Naruto continued, "Let's.. let's go home."

"That sounds like a plan." Kakashi moved and stood up with the blonde in his arms still, moving swiftly back to the comfort of their home.

Before Naruto turned in his bed to try and fall asleep after such a nerve-wracking day, he reached out for the older man's head and put his hand on the back of it, pulling him closer before gently placing a soft peck on his forehead.

"Kashi would never hurt me," he recited the words the jounin had wanted to hear out of him earlier, "because Kashi protects me."

"Yeah. That's right." The ex-anbu ruffled through the pre-Genin's honeydew locks and smiled softly, "Kashi would never let any harm come to Naruto."

The child yawned and turned in his bed, letting out a muffled "Goodnight" before letting his eyelids drop closed and he got sucked into the warmth of his pillow, falling into a deep slumber.

"Oh Naruto.." Kakashi sighed. "You sure are a handful, y'know that?" And with that, he turned and left the room, taking one last long glance back at his sensei's angel before shutting the door gently.


	21. Nightmares affect him (Pt 1)

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC. (Except my Hinata of course #Evil Laugh)**

 **Pat123: Previous one's the part one lol**

 **sultryvoice: Point taken. I agreed with you, it just imagine Naruto doing anything to gain respect from all of the villagers and protect his friends at the same time, you can imagine how difficult his life could be? Plus, when Sasuke left Konoha just for take a revenge.. This's the reasons why I hate Sasuke (no offens girl or guy fan).** **The real Kakashi, he didn't care about Naruto, only Sasuke he care about until he left the village (Damn him for that).** **I'm writing this to prove how sad Naruto when he has no one (Without showing his fake smile like original story from Masashi Kishimoto).**

 **Ruiz: Don't worry I won't abandoned this story, thank you for review Ruiz!**

"I don't care, Naruto, you're going and that's final!" Kakashi screamed, quite fed up.

Okay, you may be wondering how we wound up in this situation. Truth is, neither male really knew at this point himself. But it's good to give you a little background info.

So, it all started when Iruka had told Kakashi about some 'rarities' and 'peculiar brain-dysfunctional discoveries' he'd witnessed. In the beginning, Kakashi thought Iruka found Naruto quite the oddball, and chose to lie to Kakashi to make the man feel better, but once Iruka had mentioned what exactly had been so strange about the boy, Kakashi began to pay more and more attention to it and therefore had seen into a lot more than he should have.

He noticed how Naruto always tugs at his hair. He used to only do it when he was nervous. Now he did it constantly. And how the twitch under his lower eyelid was increasingly present as well. Oh, and don't forget the lip-peeling. Thumb-chewing, Kakashi could live with. It was a special trait most of the Nara clansfolk took comfort in. But that thing where Naruto would literally shred off pieces of his lips disturbed him greatly. Not only cos he did it until the dark skin broke but also cos the boy swallowed the shredded pieces of skin, which made it look more cannibalistic than anything to Kakashi.

But it wasn't only that. Apparently, Naruto's grades have been dropping tremendously in Geomatery. It used to be the one Mathematical subject he was good at. He hated Algebra, because numbers were just too hard to work with. Now, his geometrical insight had decreased massively and it proved to weaken other vital criteria on his report card as well. His abilities to bring structure to a simple Japanese sentence were zero to none at this point. He could talk, and he could tell you which word was the verb, or the noun, or simple stuff like that. But what should have been the easiest thing, was the most difficult to him.

And whenever Kakashi would ask him a question about school, Naruto no longer diverted it and said "Good!" or "That Sasuke-teme is such a jerk!". Instead, he just stared at the man and said, "It was okay, I guess."

That had been quite terrifying the first time the jounin heard it. If he hadn't been looking into Naruto's recent habits, it would've sounded like a normal sentence. Now, it seemed like Naruto couldn't remember what his day had actually been like.

"Well, what did you do?" he'd asked.

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Why do you care?"

"Can't a man be interested in what the academy is like nowadays?"

"I guess. But it's probably the same stuff you used to do."

"What did you do in P.E.?"

"P.E.? We didn't do that today.."

Yup. Most likely, that was what had made Kakashi's brain go 'CLICK'. That was the transfer he made from 'Iruka's just a dramaqueen and nothing's wrong with Naruto' to 'omg wth is gng on?!'. After all, Naruto's gymbag was hanging in his left hand...

Still doesn't tell us how the man wound up screaming and so pissed-off that his face was red. Let's go further into the matter.

So, he asked Iruka what he should do about it. And, being the smart and kind-hearted, overly-sweet teacher Iruka was, he suggested child-therapy. Kakashi nearly exploded from his overflowing empathy (ahem) and blundered, "THERAPY?!", being it so that the only time he went to therapy was after he'd killed 42 citizens of Sound Village.

But Iruka had pressed the matter, and after showing him thirty files on study-reports doctors and neurologists had done on children with brain-dysfunctions, Kakashi was completely convinced. He'd hoped he could just give Naruto a little pocket-book or agenda, to keep record of what he'd done and still had to do, but he understood that it wouldn't solve whatever problem Naruto was dealing with.

That didn't mean the issue had been resolved, though.

After all, if it were so easy, Kakashi wouldn't be suffering from a throat-ache right now. It must suck, under-using your vocal chords so much. (Yeah right.)

Anyway, the moment the word 'therapy' had so much as left the jounin's mouth, Naruto had been dead-set against it and made it clear to Kakashi that he wasn't going to go. He'd told him over and over again that you should only go to therapy if you have a problem and that he obviously didn't have one.

They'd fought it over repeteadly, until, in the end, they wound up like this, Kakashi screaming his head off. That was something they both hadn't really seen coming.

"Naruto-kun, you may wait outside for a moment, please."

It was an odd way of forming the sentence, but it was polite, and the man seemed even more gentle than Iruka-sensei himself, except with a stronger air of self-respect and unbreakable-ness. The man seemed like the perfect 'senpai' or even just a good older brother. He had dark blue hair and greyish eyes. He was also wearing glasses, but it seemed like he could see just fine without them. They proved to give him a cool/serious kind of mix of a look though, so Kakashi didn't really mind them.

The boy huffed and took a seat in the waiting room, returning to his lip-chewing.

Ew, Kakashi thought, before following the man inside his office and taking a seat as he shut the door.

The name-board on his desk read 'Kiyoaki Shibara'.

"My name is Kiyoaki Shibara, but you can call me Kiyoaki or Shi if you prefer."

"Hatake Kakashi," Kakashi replied, extending his hand to Shibara's awaiting one and shaking it.

"So. About Uzumaki Naruto-kun."

"Hai." (yes)

"His case is rather peculiar. Has he been treated by any other doctor?"

"..No. Not that I know of. Why?"

"I see. At what age did you adopt him?"

"Three and a half."

"Uh-huh. And was there any violence before that, which you may know of?"

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious that he's been mistreated before I adopted him. But what does that have to do with this? He was too young to remember any of that."

"Do not underestimate the mind of a young child, Hatake-san. It's true that there are a lot of events they forget about, but if tragic or incredibly unmanageable situations unfold, the capability to remember every detail of it is evident. Images remain imprinted in their mind, whether they want them to be or not. It wouldn't surprise me if Naruto-kun gets nightmares often."

"How so?"

"Is it true?"

"Yes. How did you assume such a thing?"

"Does he remember what the nightmares were about?"

"Usually he doesn't." Kakashi had given up on getting information out of the man.

"It matches perfectly, then."

And it wasn't too hard at this point for Kakashi to put the pieces together. Naruto was having difficulties with his concentration and all those other matters, because of unresolved issues of his past. Aware of it or not, he was bothered by it all.

"Now. About the sessions. 4663.5 yen (about 40 euros) should suffice."

"For?"

"A ninety-minute session."

Kakashi pulled his wallet out of his pocket, but Shibara held out his hand in a stopping motion.

"Wait with that for after, Hatake-san. First, I'd like to treat Naruto-kun. I'd like to get to know more about his symptoms. Then, if I find that I've done my job well, you can pay me."

"Sounds fair enough." Weird guy. Respectable, though, in an off way.

The two men stood up and shook hands again, and Shibara went to open the door for Kakashi. "I'll see you back in ninety minutes, then?"

"Yes."

"Alright, Naruto-kun, you can come in now."

As the boy passed, he grumbled something under his breath and looked up at Kakashi angrily, before taking a seat in the office defeatedly and leaning his cheek on his fist.

Kakashi stared at the boy's back for a second before turning to Shibara and bidding him a quick farewell.

"So, Naruto-kun. Is it alright if I call you that?"

Naruto looked up at the man and shrugged. "Call me whatever you want."

Shibara smiled. "I'm Kiyoaki. You can call me Kiyo."

Naruto just kept looking at the man, unfascinated.

"Now, Naruto, as you well know, I'm here to find out more about you and your recent... personality-changes."

"I haven't changed!"

"Alright, calm down. It's normal that people change. I change from day to day. It'd be terribly sad if I still acted the way I did when I was three, wouldn't it?" Kiyoaki chuckled.

Naruto wanted to smile, but he chose to huff instead, and dropped his cheek on his fist again. "I don't know why I'm here."

"Well, Naruto-kun, there have been some... issues... concerning your mental health, which are probably linked to events from your past. Do you remember anything about your past?"

"I remember my friends at the Home."

"Good! Anything else?"

"Uhm..." Naruto tilted his head to the other side. "Not really. I mean, I guess I did juggle between families once in a while, but besides that... nothing really."

"Do you remember what the families used to treat you like?"

"Mmm... No."

"Who was your first family?"

"I don't remember their name. The man had a dog, though. A big one."

"The man? I presume he was the father?"

"Yeah."

"And the mother? Where was she?" At this point, Kiyoaki had stood up and started walking about his office, arranging random things. He'd shift a painting on the wall to make it straighter, or would pull out a book and flip through a couple of pages before putting it back in its entitled place.

"Uhm... Out more than in, I guess. The man always beat her up. I could always hear them fighting in the other room, cos they were constantly panting."

Appearing like he was just scribbling down a random note, Kiyoaki picked up the yellow notepad on his desk and wrote down, 1: Aggressive, sexual in presence of child .

"Did you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No."

"Okay." It sounded almost like Kiyo was trying to cheer him up. "And what about your second family?"

"I don't -- I don't remember them."

"You can't or you don't want to?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Naruto growled.

Instead of backing away and saying, "Nothing really", Kiyoaki glanced at him with a bright white shimmer on his glasses and said clearly, yet calmly, "Exactly what it sounds like."

Naruto felt intimidated, to say the least, and sort of uncomfortable. He wished Kakashi were here to make him feel stupid with a light joke, which would inevitably help him avoid the question.

"Who was the father?" Kiyoaki asked, returning to his walking about the room, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Which, in a way, it hadn't, but those two seconds of awkward degrading were enough for Naruto to not want it to happen again.

"An alcoholic. He had a whip."

"And the mother?" Shibara knew not to linger on matters of abuse too long -- after all, it took quite a lot of courage to come out with this kind of information. He knew that children who let it out after bottling it up so long were expecting a reaction of extreme surprise, so he gave him the exact opposite. He acted like he'd expected it all along. This would make them want to spill more, if only to get the reaction they so desired.

With Naruto, it oddly wasn't the case.

"The mother was an alcoholic, too."

"Brothers or sisters?"

"None."

"I see," Kiyoaki nodded curtly, going over to his notepad again. 2: Extreme abuse

"Your third?"

"They were okay."

"Really, and why is that?"

"There were four sisters and five brothers."

"Ah, yes. I've read about that in the newspaper. You were moved out by the state. Do you remember why?"

"..No."

"Your brother tried to have sexual contact with you."

Naruto flushed completely, earlopes bone-white and his cheeks blood-red. "He-he-he WHAT?!"

Kiyoaki could just stifle a chuckle before it escaped his lips. "He was your senior by three years. You were three and he was six. Every brother and sister in that family had an intimate bond with another member of the family. Do you know where your parents were at the time?"

"No."

"While all that was going on, they were brought to the sanitorium. Unfortunately, nobody really went deeper into the whole matter, being it so that there was a nineteen-year-old brother and an eighteen-year-old sister and everyone figured things were fine. Unfortunately, your 'parents' had taught all their children to have intimate bonds with each other. Miharu, the one who tried to bond with you, was merely copying the actions of his siblings. A child so young doesn't realise he's doing something wrong. None of your siblings knew they were doing things that are considered wrong in society."

"I don't remember that. I only remember playing games."

"Naturally."

Naruto wanted to ask why, but for some reason he felt like he either just wouldn't get an answer at all, or one that didn't make sense to him at all anyway.

Kiyoaki shuffled around the room again, asking him about his life on the street and how he looked at Konoha and all that. Ten minutes later, he picked up his notepad again, and wrote down, 3: intimate bonds with siblings. Forcefully blocked out all memory.

Naruto glanced at the clock. Only fourty minutes had gone by since he entered the room. His palms were getting sweaty and his hair felt clammy against his forehead. He was getting seriously irritated by the fact that this man acted like he knew all about him, and he wanted to know what exactly this person was trying to accomplish.

"Kiyoaki."

"Hm?" The man glanced sideways at him, appearing almost childishly innocent.

"Why did you become a therapist?"

"..Why I ..? Uhm.. Well, probably, because I used to hang out with a lot of kids who were abused by their parents. I've always had great parents, so when they died when I was still a child, I wanted to help other people understand what love really is. I missed my parents so much that I probably wanted to bring them back to life by giving a little bit of their spirit to every person I treat. Actually, it's very likely that I felt guilty for always having had great parents, and that I thought that at least I could help society out a little and repay my friends for their kindness and understanding. You know, it could also be because since they're all dead now, I find a sort of comfort in seeing other children who have problems at home, if only to re-awaken the same feeling I had whenever I hung out with them. Yeah. That sounds probable."

Naruto found it oddly amusing how Kiyoaki was turning all 'therapist' on himself and how he was actually using words like 'probably' and 'likely'. Any other person probably would have said "cos I want to help the world" or something like that. Which, of course, is a nice, valid answer. But that wouldn't have made Naruto laugh so hard.

"Hm? What?"

Kiyoaki's confusion only made Naruto laugh even harder.

When Kakashi came to pick Naruto up, he'd noticed how much gentler Naruto was about things. While he paid Shibara and tipped him for a job well done, the boy was just quietly flipping through a magazine he found in the waiting-room. Obviously, he'd do things quietly, the way he always did whenever he was around Kakashi, but when he was pissed-off, he'd normally show it by, for example, leaning against the doorframe and sighing bitterly every so often.

Now, the boy seemed more... fragile. Like an actual human being.

"Next week would be a good time to have him swing by again, Kakashi-san," Shibara let the man know, looking at the jounin in a way that made him feel sort of uncomfortable.

Kakashi was used to getting drilled. He was used to the shouting and the glaring and the god-awful stare to get the one being stared at to do whatever you want. He'd been in the ANBU. As an ANBU member, he'd been yelled at over various things, none of them logical. The ANBU captains were all crazy, every single one of them. Some of them shouted like crazy banshies to get you pumped up with fear or adrhenaline or sometimes even both. Other liked to say nothing and give you meaningful looks that seemed to melt you down to the ground instead. But never in his entire life, has Kakashi met a person who could look at you in such a way that you felt like going over every single detail of your life to make sure you did it all the right way. Perhaps because Shibara's look was kind yet serious. He was dedicated to his work and what he did, and the other man could tell. Not once had Kakashi been too happy with what he did. Never in his entire life has he thought of the shinobi to be 'honorable'. Not even when they saved entire villages and innocent children.

And not because shinobi were technically nothing but tools; erasers of the human errors in life. But because the people he saved, would eventually turn out to be exactly like them. They were saving people who would look at the shinobi with admiration and would want to be a shinobi as well. They trained young children in villages to be shinobi precisely to keep their roles as so-called 'protectors' alive, because those same shinobi that saved innocent kids, came home with blood-stained hands, wanting nothing more than for someone to tell them that they're doing things the right way and that everything will turn out to be just fine.

Why else would they do what they do?

Once they returned home safely, Naruto pulled out a book and began scribbling away ferociously. Kakashi had been curious, but he chose to just lay down on the couch instead, and read the only thing that could keep his mind off of everything else; Icha Icha Paradise.

At 18:30, Naruto retired to his studies and sat on the window sill, allowing the orange sunlight to illuminate the pages of his book. The dull white cover of it read; 'Chakra Vol. 4 - B'. The only illustration it had was on the back, where a see-through human had been painted with the chakra-strings going through its body.

Naruto looked absolutely and utterly bored, but he kept reading until it was 19:40 and time for ramen. But even while they were having dinner, the blonde said nothing, not even when he found some rock-hard noodles lodged in his throat. It was like sitting across from a ghost, who was too caught up in whatever the hell he was thinking of to respond to anything at all.

He was silent even when Kakashi told him he should get to sleep cos it was eleven o'clock already. The blonde simply nodded his head and bowed slightly before retiring to his room.

The jounin was starting to think things weren't going to work out this way.

So, being the kind of person he was, he snuck into the boy's room and borrowed the book he'd been writing in earlier.

Kakashi slumped onto the edge of his bed and turned on the little light on his bedside table. He opened the simple, hardcover brown book, flipping through the first three, blank pages, until he reached the part where Naruto had started off.

After looking up at the ceiling and holding his breath, mulling over his actions, he decided that this was his best option and looked back down again, smiling a little at the crude, round writing.

I didn't want to go to therapy. But Kiyo was nice.

He said stuff like 'abuse' and 'sexual', but he didn't act like it was taboo to say those things. That's cool.

I can remember my other families, now. Suddenly, I remember what it feels like to hurt. The scars on my back are burning again and even my heart races when I remember how scared I was the first time Girano-tou-san sat really close to me.

Even that worst time... I thought I forgot about it... But I remember how Girano-tou-san would be really intimate with me and slap me as he told me I was a good or a bad boy. Back then I guess I just swallowed and gasped, but now it humiliates me so much I want to cry.

Kiyo told me about how people change, though. He said that it would be sad if he still acted the way he did when he was little. So I guess that means I can really just leave the past behind me. But that doesn't stop me from remembering it, now.

Kakashi shut the book and suppressed the urge to cradle his head in his hands and shut his tired eyes. He suddenly understood why Naruto was being so quiet and headed over to the boy's room. He placed the book back in its rightful drawer and lay down behind the blonde, embracing him and holding him close.

"You're quite a miracle," he whispered.

The next morning, Naruto's mouth was like an engine on overheat. He was talking about anything and everything, even the things that bothered him in daily life. He complained that the toothpaste in the bathroom tasted funny and that the cereal was very bland. He actually said 'bland'; the boy who was anything but bland, managed to call something else exactly that.

But he also smiled a big, luminous smile, as he told Kakashi just how much he loved ramen and Saturdays and learning new techniques.

It was quite a funny and odd sight to the jounin, who was used to a shy boy who bottled up his emotions and chose to only show Kakashi his positive, polite side.

And he decided he couldn't wait a whole week to figure out exactly why Naruto was being this way. So he brought the kid over to Shibara-san's office again, even as Naruto protested repeatedly how much he HATED therapy and WOULDN'T go even if Kakashi MADE him.

Turns out he had no choice, either way.

"You? Alone?" Shibara asked, confused.

"Just for a moment."

"Alright. Naruto-kun, could you wait over there, please?"

Naruto looked up at Kakashi, confusion written all over his face.

Kakashi nodded at him, almost in a confirming way. "Just for a minute, Naruto. I want to ask Shibara-san something."

"About me?"

The jounin poked the boy in the side. "Of course it's about you; everything in life is about you," he joked, throwing the boy over his shoulder and leaving the room for a second before depositing him on a chair in the waiting-room. "I promise it'll only be a second."

"I don't care how long it takes; as long as it's not about me."

"Alright, alright."

But Kakashi never promised, did he?

"Oh, that's obvious," Shibara said, as though it were the easiest thing in the world to figure out. "It's weird that you, of all people, didn't think of that, yet. I thought you were the oh-so-famous cat ninja or something like that?"

"Kakashi the copy-cat nin, yes," the jounin replied, getting mildly irritated by Shibara's incapability to at least say his 'codename' (which of course wasn't really a codename anymore nowadays) correctly.

"So, what is it? Why wouldn't he speak to me yesterday, but is he speaking mouthfulls every second today?"

Shibara shot him an amused look, probably for his choice of words, but answered despite it; "Yesterday he was contemplating his choices. Today, he realises that you are truly the only one he can depend on. Do you think he acted this way around his other families?"

"I wouldn't know; I wasn't there."

"Well, he didn't." Shibara's voice was calm and collected, but his expression said otherwise. It was almost as though he was there and that he knew all about Naruto's life, from beginning to end.

"In you he sees the one person who will stay with him even through a mess of misery."

Kakashi was gaping at him, awestruck.

"Let's say a child gets bullied at school, right?"

"Right."

"Well, say the child only has his or her father. What do you think the child will do to get 'closer' to the only one he or she has left?"

"Act like an angel?"

Shibara chuckled lightly. "It's funny how everyone makes that mistake. A child needs attention. It craves it with all its being. When a child gets close to the one he or she loves, they show them their dark sides, to put them to the test, and their bright sides, to reward them when they pass. So far, you've probably been acting very mellow toward this change, but Naruto-kun can feel that since you didn't get angry at him for anything he's said, the two of you are closer than, let's say, him and his academy teacher."

"Well, of course we are. Didn't he know that, yet?"

"What, exactly, did he say, that caught your attention?"

Kakashi simply accepted the way Shibara changed the subject without even concealing it and replied, "Well, loads of stuff. He used to only be happy with whatever he got, now he comments on anything and everything he sees."

"Yes, but has he insulted anyone? Has he hit you, or tried to harm you in any other way?"

"No?" Kakashi felt like he was intruding on some private case for kids with mental disorders. He felt like the parents of those children would be pointing the finger at him and saying that he was an idiot for not even knowing THAT much.

"That's quite the spectacle. I guess Naruto-kun really does have a gentle heart."

"What? Why?"

"Kakashi-san, I fear that Naruto-kun still hasn't quite warmed up to you, yet. Please, do understand, the first three years in a child's life are more important than the rest. It is of crucial importance that they get a proper treatment; this is something he didn't get. Then he moved in with you, and you weren't like the other families. He probably got a nervous breakdown somewhere within the first year, if only because he was still waiting for you to do something that would hurt him and it rattled in every fiber of his being as the years passed."

"Well what was I supposed to do? Hit him every morning?"

"I never said you did something wrong. I simply let you know exactly what was going on in Naruto-kun's head. And something which you could have done was bring him to a therapist, but I do understand that you would be against that idea. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Ashamed?" Kakashi repeated, head bent all the way to the other side as though he were braindead.

"Yes. I hear that shinobi absolutely hate hearing that they should go see a therapist. I had a shinobi in here last, who said that he regretted all those years of refusing therapy simply because he had to 'prove' to his teammates that he didn't need help and that he was strong enough to get through it all."

"Well, I'm not like that."

"Au contraire," Shibara insisted.

(on the contrary)

Kakashi looked up.

"I've heard about you. When I was a kid, Hokage-sama spoke of you a lot. I saw you once, as well. I believe you were only fourteen and you were already in the ANBU. Hokage-sama told you you should see a counselor or a therapist or anyone else to help you, but you kept telling him you were fine."

"You were there?"

"I was."

"You- you were the kid in the corner!"

"Indeed."

"Why were you there?"

"I tried to help my friend break out of his house."

"Break... Out of his own house?"

"It wasn't exactly his. He'd been adopted. But he hated it there. So I helped him break out. Except.. Someone caught us, and the one who got punished was foremostly none other than myself."

Kakashi was happy he was wearing a mask, cos smirking over such a matter would be too buddy-buddy for him. He couldn't be a senpai who was acting like a kohai toward some guy who was younger than him but could exert such an impressive example of authority.

"But anyway, about Naruto-kun's case, I would be wary if I were you. He could get agressive from now on. He's probably ready to put the past behind him, but since he doesn't quite know how, he's going to work out his frustrations on other people. I believe you already know this, but Naruto-kun is quite the hothead."

"Yes. I know."

Shibara smiled.


	22. Nightmare affect him (Part II)

**I'm not own Naruto but Masashi Kishimoto except my OC. (Except my Hinata of course #Evil Laugh)**

 **sultryvoice: I totally agreed for you. Thank you for review and I'm truely sorry for delayed, sultryvoice. /bow deeply/**

 **a person 56: Glad finally you can find it again lmao- thank you for review and I'm sorry for delayed, a person 56. /bow deeply/**

 **Ruiz: Thank you for review and I'm sorry for delayed, Ruiz. /bow deeply/**

 **shivrashi: Of course not, I have no intention to abandoned my story. Truely yorry for delayed and thank you for review, Shivrashi. /bow deeply/ Oh and thank you for PM me!**

"Just eat them."

"They're disgusting."

"Just eat them."

"And mushy."

"Just eat them."

"And probably unhealthy."

"Just eat them."

"Never."

"Just eat them."

"NEVER!"

Honestly. Kakashi just couldn't understand why the stupid kid wouldn't eat his bloody peas. Shibara had warned him this would happen, but he never thought something so random could throw the kid off-course completely.

Kakashi sighed and took a sip of his lemonade, which was allowed at the table if you were cool enough. Basically, it was his way of putting structure into chaos, even though the child-care people that swung by every few months knew just as well that Kakashi was just too mellow to forbid the kid to drink anything besides water at the table. Also, he was, for the most part, uninterested in rules. Ever since what had happened all those years ago, he found that if he made his own, personal, tiny rules, he couldn't be bothered by the rules in everyday shinobi life. Like with ying yang, he maintained balance.

Naruto had gotten over the stage of seperating his different types of food on his plate, but managed to eat his way around the peas even if most of them were stuck to the carrots. (Oh the delicacy of canned food.) But even he was getting fed-up with putting so much effort into something as simple as a meal, so in the end he caved in and ate his peas, if only because Kakashi had finished eating and stared at him with his chin on folded hands.

Later on, when Naruto was practicing his taijutsu in the back-yard, a certain someone stopped by. Kakashi opened the door for the young, black-haired male, who had a bag swung over his shoulder with all kinds of ninja-equipment stashed inside of it, making clangy metal sounds as he walked.

"Yes?" the jounin asked, feeling, if anything, rather confused.

"I'm here to see Naruto. I want a re-match."

"A re-match?"

"IT WAS THE WIND!"

"Huh?"

"SOMETHING BLEW IN MY EYE! THERE'S NO WAY A DOBE LIKE HIM COULD BEAT ME!"

"O-okay. Naruto! Someone's here to see you!"

The blonde headed back inside and nearly tripped when he caught sight of the Uchiha.

"Sasuke? What're you doing here?"

"I want a re-match."

"Re-match, huh? Okay! You're on!"

Sasuke smirked and turned to look at Kakashi. "Where's your training room?"

Kakashi pointed outside. "You can use the yard."

The Uchiha nearly pulled a face but managed to go 'Hn' and smirk again instead. "That'll do just fine. I love to watch people smack into trees."

"Oh yeah?! Well just wait 'till I stomp your face into the mud, you fart!"

"Bring it on, then!"

"Fuck yeah!"

The two of them headed outside and were in battle-stances two seconds later.

"You ready?!"

"I was BORN ready, dobe."

"TEMEEE!!"

-R-

After the proud Uchiha (who reclaimed his pride only a minute ago) had left, Naruto sat defeated amidst the tall grass, sighing. He rested his forehead against the palm of his hand, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. Kakashi walked over to him with one hand in his pocket and a wet cloth in the other. He crouched down in front of the blonde and wiped away the blood from his mouth, but the boy swatted his hand away, still irritated and pride still wounded. When he did so, something in his shoulder stung like hell and he pinched his eyes shut, gritting his teeth. Kakashi turned him to see what the problem was and almost gasped when he could. (Because actually gasping isn't something cool people do.)

"Hold still, 'kay?"

"Huh? What?"

The jounin moved to sit behind the pre-Genin and wrapped his fingers around the metal handle of the kunai still lodged in the boy's shoulder. He put his other hand on the boy's back to steady himself a little and repeated, "Just hold still," before analyzing the position of the weapon and pulling it straight out.

Naruto groaned, but didn't shout, which meant the kunai hadn't been too far in and excessive damage had been avoided.

"Stay here," Kakashi ordered. He headed back toward the house and looked for the proper material before returning at the boy's side. "Take off your shirt," he said, pouring some brown liquid onto a white cloth.

Naruto didn't look like he was up for 'treatment', but did it anyway. When the jounin placed the cloth on the gash, he grit his teeth to keep from yelping, surprised by the burn and the sting.

While Kakashi cleaned the wound and dressed it, he couldn't help but glance down at the fine red stripes on Naruto's back every so often. They were memories of the boy's past, and even though Kyuubi normally healed all his wounds, it didn't seem like he wanted to heal these. He had gotten them before Kakashi had adopted him, obviously, since Kakashi would never allow anyone to take a whip to his boy on the back like that. And that's putting it lightly.

"We should really get you some kind of cream for those," the jounin murmured, trailing his index finger over one of the whip-lash marks.

"It doesn't matter!" Naruto barked back, shoving Kakashi's arm away from him. "I don't care."

Both were silent for a while, and Kakashi took notice of the way Naruto's vibrant blue eyes turned mellow and blank. The jounin couldn't resist the urge to wrap his arms around the boy and pull his back against his chest. "Of course you do," he muttered.

"I don't!" the blonde backfired, tugging at the man's arms hyperactively, causing blood to seep through the bandages on his shoulder and soak through to Kakashi's jounin sweater. The man could feel the warm, sticky blood against his skin, but instead of worrying about the large amount of blood escaping the boy's body, he was worried about Naruto's mental wellbeing.

"You do, so stop acting like you don't!" he demanded with a strict voice, halting the kid's ferocious actions by gripping his wrists tightly.

"Look, I know it's unfair what they did to you. Which is why, instead of denying the fact that it troubles you, you should just accept it. Accept that it bothers you and that you're hurt because of it. It did happen, and as much as I wish it didn't, I can't undo it all."

Naruto continued to struggle helplessly, but Kakashi wasn't too bothered by it and simply crossed the boy's arms as he locked him in between the insides of his elbows. "I know you've put up quite a fight to keep from remembering all that bullshit. And you did well, you have my word for that."

The boy couldn't move anymore, but still attempted to.

"Just... stop acting like it never happened."

"I know it did! But what's the point in fretting over something from so long ago?!"

Kakashi chuckled. "That's what I should be asking you. I don't want you to fret over matters from the past; I just want you to stop pretending that they aren't real."

"Tch! You should stop pretending like you know all about me!!" Naruto screamed, putting in all his force this time and managing to get out of the jounin's hold. Kakashi reached out to tackle him to the ground, but Naruto turned around fast enough and swung his fist at the man. If Kakashi hadn't trained his hand-eye-coördination from a level lower than your enemy with Gai, the boy's fist would have collided with his face. Fortunately, he was able to snatch it just in time, and as a natural reflex, he pulled his 'target' toward him a little before flipping him around and onto his stomach on the ground, twisting an arm behind his back and holding the fist he'd caught flat against the ground, knee on the boy's back.

Naruto grumbled, while Kakashi was still surprised the boy would actually hit him. Sure, when they were practicing, it was to be expected. But now, after he just gave him a speech of praise, he still managed to get angry over something as trivial as 'butting into someone's life' and punch him? Or, at least, attempt to.

"FUCK!"

"Calm down." It seemed like he always said those two words to the blonde. Nothing more had ever been necessary. If he had to pick the words that described Naruto best, which he often said, it would be those. Or perhaps "You'll get there". But that didn't really describe him.

Unfortunately, Naruto hated those words. They made him feel like an incapable infant, unable to be quiet. Unable to just keep still, like normal people. Like he was throwing a fit.

"Fuck off!" he snarled.

"Maa, if you calm down, I might consider letting you go. How 'bout it?"

"How 'bout you let me deal with my past in my OWN way! Without sending me off to therapy!"

"Well obviously that hasn't helped any. So quit struggling and just accept help once in a while."

"I've never needed help!"

"Of course you have. It's true that you've never accepted help, but if you never needed help, then we wouldn't be in this situation right now."

Naruto was still surprised that the jounin said 'we' instead of 'you'. Every time he said something like that, he felt like he was stuck in a dream.

"Okay?"

Naruto nodded and Kakashi got off of him. The boy got up and brushed himself off before heading back inside without another word. It seemed like life was being cruel to him, even though it finally wasn't. All those years of abuse he was able to take it, but now, it was like everything was falling apart at the seams. And that, that was the most unfair thing in the world to him. He had never even got a chance to mope.

-R-

After two more sessions with Kiyo-kun, Naruto was starting to see the benefits of having a traumatic past and what it's done for him, instead of seeing what it has done to him. Granted, there was a minority of things that had benefited him after the abuse in comparison to what it has done to hurt and disadvantage him, but the fact that they were there still remained.

Kiyo had told him how mature he was for a twelve-year-old, but he had also warned him about his hyperactive sprees he sometimes took a spin in. Because of the fact that he had missed a chunk of his life as a 'normal' (since normal is such an ugly term) child, he sometimes went off on a tangent and acted younger than his peers. But that led to the immediate and subconscious reaction of him acting inappropriately mature at moments. He felt misplaced when he heard this, like he was either too old or too young, but Kiyo had assured him that nobody really is in perfect balance and that he'd rather be someone who had the capability of being extremely mature but had immature moments which he could work on, than somebody who was a mix between the two and would never be as mature as Naruto could be. When Naruto had heard this, he felt a warm tug at his heart, indicating pride.

But Kiyo had also told him that because of his past, he had trouble acknowledging aid for what it was, instead of what he interpreted it as.

"Kakashi said I had trouble accepting help. But that's not it. It's not that I don't want it, it's just that I don't think it'll really change anything."

"Exactly. But it's because you're thinking this, that the help indeed won't do anything for you. If you keep fighting it, you'll focus on it. Do you think that if a child focuses on growing up, it will truly do so? Only when you're about thirty years old, you look back and realize how much you've grown. Naruto-kun, you must, most absolutely, see that when people are giving you a helping hand, it is almost certainly out of the knowledge that they can provide you with something you couldn't provide for yourself. Nobody will trick you or deceive you. Not anymore. You've gotten much smarter and more realistic in the past few years, Naruto. I'm sure that if someone tries to fool you, you'll see through it. You have incredible perceptive abilities. And if there is one thing you can be absolutely sure of, it's that Kakashi will always want to be of help to you. Even if he doesn't voice it. You know he's bad with expressing emotions. But I can also tell that you're starting to read him like an open book. He truly wants the best for you. And I'll be honest with you; most parents claim to know what's best for their child. He does not. But he is often right. He's laid-back and can act dismissive and aloof, but I'm sure you've noticed, too, how when you're in need of a helping hand, he is there and he is ready. And you must be prepared to take that helping hand. I'd like to top this off with the words "because it won't be there forever" but as dramatic and serious as it sounds, it probably will be. Kakashi won't give up on you. Ever. Do you really want to disappoint a guy like that?"

Naruto thought for about two minutes. Their session had ended five minutes ago, but Kiyo's next appointment was only in an hour. The boy stood up quite suddenly and headed for the door. He rested his tan hand on the polished doorknob and turned his head slightly, smiling genuinely. He then turned all the way and looked the therapist in the eye.

"Thank you, Kiyo-san. For everything. I have a feeling the chances of me seeing you again will be outside of this room, and I hope that when it happens we can look back on this and smile. I know what to do, now. And I really appreciate all your help."

Normally, when things like these happened, Kiyo assumed the problem-child was playing a trick on him. That the kid just acted like everything was solved and played it out so brilliantly that he truly believed him or her. But now... with Naruto... things seemed different. It was the way his eyes seemed determined in a soft and gratified way, more so than in an angry and self-certain way. Not that being certain of yourself was a bad thing. It would actually prove to help him solve his issues with the past. But right now, Naruto could do without it. He could relish in a moment of utter weakness, and enjoy the privilege of having an arm reaching out to him. Naruto was a good kid. He was a good person. And Kiyo wished him all the best.

"I have the same feeling, Naruto-kun. I enjoyed spending time with you. Make sure to do something about your ramen-habit."

Naruto chuckled and waved at him as he headed out, and Kiyo found himself smiling fondly at the boy. Yes, after all, this is what he did it for. This is why he became a therapist. To live through this moment. To see a patient realize the mistake that was prodding at their sides for what must have felt like a lifetime, and see the relief and gratitude on their faces when the weight of their troubles is lifted off their shoulders.

"You'll go far, kid," he whispered when the door clicked shut behind the Uzumaki.

-R-

"What do you mean; 'it's over'?"

"Just what I said. I no longer have to go to therapy."

"Did you bribe him?" Kakashi asked, unable to hide the laughter from his tone of voice.

"Of course not. Besides, where would I get the money? Anyway, the fact remains that it's over now. And I see what has been my problem and your problem all along. But I'm willing to fix it."

"Oh really?" Kakashi asked, raising a brow. He didn't like the way this was going.

"Really." Naruto smiled, nodding slightly.

"Alrighty then... So, what's happening tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"You don't have to go to Kiyo anymore."

"Well, tonight... Tonight, I would like you to help me find a healing technique to get rid of the scars on my back. And then, I would very much enjoy it if you would let me see your face."

The way Kakashi had stopped nodding approvingly showed the boy that the jounin wasn't up to doing such a thing. But either way, the fact that Naruto wasn't sputtering things like, "Nevermind! I was joking!" indicated that he was serious and that he would find a way to see it sooner or later.

"Fair enough," Kakashi admitted.

-R-

"I showed you my weakness, it's only fair that you show me yours."

"A few scars isn't a weakness. I could show you scars that would keep you up all night."

"You mean the one on your shoulder? Please. That's nothing."

"Nothing? Well then you won't be impressed by my face. Cos compared to that, it's utterly dull. Wanna see my shoulder instead?"

Naruto shook his head, smirking. "Just do it already."

The man sighed, raised his eyes to the ceiling, and slowly hook a finger around the edge of his mask. Naruto was practically sliding off the edge of the bed, watching eagerly, as though he could miss anything if he batted his eyelashes.

The man pulled his mask down at the speed of light and pulled it back up again.

"Aww! C'mon Kakashi! That doesn't count!"

"It does for me! 'Night 'night!"

The man made a move to pull the blanket over the blonde's head, but Naruto stopped him and reached out for the man's mask with two fingers, stating that it wasn't fair at all and how Kakashi had promised to let him see it, not glance quickly.

The jounin wrapped his hand around the young one's outstretched, clenched fist and shut his eyes, giving in wordlessly. He sighed dejectedly and looped his finger back around the seam of the mask, before pulling it down.

He kept his eyes shut, feeling naked and cold without the piece of cloth covering his face while someone's eyes roamed around the entirety of it.

But then he felt the boy pull the mask back up again, lift his hair, and kiss his forehead.

"Thank you," he said simply, like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"You're welcome," Kakashi found himself replying, anyway.

He pulled the blankets over the younger life-form and passed a hand through the boy's hair. "Goodnight."

The boy yawned and replied with a hearty, "Goodnight."

When Kakashi was about to shut the door, he couldn't sustain his curiosity anymore and asked, "Naruto, why did you want to see my face?"

He waited so long for an answer that he figured the boy had fallen asleep and wouldn't give him one, when he heard, "I don't really know... you seem more like you're my... dad, that way."

Kakashi smirked.

"Goodnight, Naruto."

 **The End.**

Alright so.. How is it? I'm truely sorry for making all of you wait longer than expected and I decided if this's the last chapter of Frozen Yoghurt. Thank you for **Zeroxydeous, VampireDoll666, serenamoonrose, kyuzi4869, 5BrightStars, Royiah, Lucifer, lazyfox21, bloody child, Boltltou-ku RT, Hopewords, Lyrickskiller, Aprilia Echizen, 88charlies, Pat123, Kahryez, reolroer, chibinaruto187, hsm1999, RetroVibe, orangetrumpduck, powerade101, Kelmtb, Romokih, Kaida Fury, Night of StarClan, DarkFoxLord, thetinypuppy, Dyanara102, Huntress 9894, kena33gray, sultryvoice, anzue, LN Tora, Sidewinder566, turtle.on.the.rock, Lilbrat99, soccerlover91, georgia.underwood.7, mpatat96, karen potter 97, cici394, KurohoshiX, shivrashi, BloodyRose-97, Master-Juan-X, Narulover247, soccerlover91, LyKatherine Adhara, EmyLove, gabby-potter1999, Have-A-Go-Hero, Hatsune 01, Torbash2005, Animelover10879, Milye6, Terminated Membership, PinkiePieParty122894, Painlover792, animeeawesomee, xiaomaome101, Akira Silverwolf, dbear97, draco hawke, Shinrai Atsune, Loki921, mangamama, ThunderClaw03, Valerya Gonzlez, TheGoldenTrio16, Tilkghamer21, Emiri-Tsukiyo, Shadowfey913, ladydragontl, horrorfans18, kuro sora wa, Court818, wildanimelover, blackrein26, TheJeanesQueen, Hendrie9870, ReedtheNerdist, a person 56, ladydragontl.** Favorite and Follow my story, I really appreciate it! Thank you everyone and love you!!


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